I Choose You
by FlangstPrince
Summary: Pokemon AU. When Ed was a kid, all he ever wanted was to be a trainer. But because life hates him, of course everything had to go to shit before he even got a chance. (Posted in this Archive to advertise the story, will appear in crossover section later).
1. Simple Battles on Simple Days

Giggles filled the living room as three little voices filled the house with joy. The fire in the fireplace crackled as its warmth complimented the sound of the joyful children.

"Do it again Eevee! Do it again!" A young four year old urged, his golden eyes shining.

"Yea! Baby Doll Eyes!" The girl next to him almost squeaked in excitement as the brown pokemon turned around and used the move. Her eyes brightened and hearts seemed to fly around her.

The children's hearts fluttered a bit as they beamed, "Its so cute! Eevee is the most adorable! Right Winry?"

The lighter blonde girl nodded eagerly, "Eevee is the cutest! Even cuter than Den!" She covered her mouth suddenly, looking both ways, "Don't tell her I said that though…" she'd never want to hurt the Mightyena's feelings.

Alphonse leaned towards her and whispered, "Secret's safe with me."

They giggled again as another made his presence known. "Are you guys done yet!? I wanna train with Eevee! Cal says he wants to battle me with his Pidgey! I just know Eevee can beat his stupid face!"

"Now Edward," A deeper voice interrupted, Ed looked up towards his father, "You're far too young to be a trainer, Cal is three years older than you, he's not even old enough to have a pokemon yet."

Edward huffed and crossed his arms, "But Dad! I was Challenged!"

"You aren't supposed to battle with Eevee anyways, your mother didn't raise her for battle." Hohenheim attempted to reason.

"Fine, then I'll just use Sawsbuck!" at his words his father appeared somewhat fearful.

Hohenheim stuttered, "I-I don't think that's a good idea…" he trailed off, "That poor pidgey." he uttered under his breath.

His older son turned around and pouted, "You're no fun! Mom's the more fun parent!"

Hohenheim seemed to freeze with an awkward smile. He chuckled as a cold sweat ran down his forehead and he left the room.

Edward watched him leave, "You know what."

"What brother?" Al questioned, petting Eevee's head.

"Better not be something really stupid like usual." Winry gave him the look he got fifty percent of the time he looked at her. The look that she knew he was gonna do something he was going to regret.

Ed ignored her intuition and glanced at the cracked open door of his father's office, then ran over to the doorway to the kitchen where his father was speaking to his mother. "If I run I can make it." with that, he took off.

"Ed!?"

"Brother Wait!"

Ed slipped into the cracked doorway and emerged a few seconds later with a pokeball in his hands. "There! Come on!"

The six and four year olds cautiously trailed after him, "Are you sure about this brother?"

"I'm completely sure!" He grinned as he ran outside, "Mom! Dad! Al, Win, and I are gonna go play outside for a bit! We'll be back by dinner! Eevee is in the living room!"

Winry's exhausted lungs struggled to take a breath, "Ed- this is ask-askin' for trouble!"

Ed rolled his eyes, "They'll never know! It's not like Sawsbuck is gonna tell dad! Sawsbuck can't speak!" He went silent before his voice grew determined, "I'm finally gonna show Cal that I'm not as weak as he says I am! He has no right to say the stuff he says or do the things he does to me. I'll show him!"

They ran up and around the field of tall grass so they wouldn't have any unwanted encounters and soon arrived at the top where Cal was waiting.

The boy laughed, "Why did ya bring twiddle one and twiddle two!? Need baby backup?"

Ed wrinkled his nose, "You're SO Funny. They're here to watch me kick your fat butt!"

"Brother! Mom says not to say words like that!" Al yelped.

Ed gritted his teeth at Cal's laughter, "Alright then Ed, let's get this show on the road! Pidgey! Come on out!" The bird flew into the sky with a screech and flipped around before perching on Cal's outstretched arm. "Where's that lame Eevee you told me about?" he teased.

"She couldn't make it! But I've got something even better!" He tossed the pokeball in the air, "Let's battle Sawsbuck!" The tall pokemon sprung out of his pokeball, his large horns covered in pretty autumn leaves of warm colors.

Cal smirked a little, "Big pokemon for such a little guy…"

"I'M STILL GROWING YA KNOW!" Ed shrieked with anger.

Cal took the opportunity to call his first attack, "Pidgey! Gust!" The pidgey flapped its wings creating a strong gust of wind that headed straight for Sawsbuck. A giant dirt cloud kicked up due to the windy move.

"Sawsbuck!" The trio called in worry, however both sides were surprised as the deer like pokemon was completely unaffected.

"Wha-?! But, flying type moves are effective against sawsbuck!" Cal stepped back.

Ed laughed, "Alright Sawsbuck! Use-uh… use…" He stopped to think, he turned to Al, "What are Sawsbuck's moves again?"

Al shrugged as a super effective 'I dunno'.

"What's wrong?" Cal asked, prompting Edward to dig even deeper into his brain. He'd found a memory of his father using sawsbuck to help with garden work.

"Use grass knot."

Ed smirked, "USE GRASS KNOT!"

However, Sawsbuck turned to them and looked down at them.

"Uh… Sawsbuck?" Ed laughed nervously.

The pokemon leaned down and picked Ed up by the back of his shirt, "H-hey! Cut it out! Let go Sawsbuck! I said use Grass Knot!" The pokemon leaned down to allow Al and Winry access to his back. The two obeyed and climbed on as the pokemon began to walk in the other direction.

"Is that a forfeit Ed?!" Cal snorted.

"No! Just you wait until Sawsbuck listens! He's just taking his time!" The pokemon only continued to walk away.

"See ya around Ed!" the boy called his pidgey back and walked back towards his house.

Ed let out an angry snort, "Sawsbuck! What was that all about!?" Sawsbuck gave no indication that he had even heard Ed. "Come on!"

They could see their house steadily approaching, "Thanks for bringing us home Sawsbuck." Al patted his neck lightly.

"Home!?" Ed sounded horrified, "NO! SAWSBUCK! RETURN!" He attempted to call the pokemon back but he just couldn't aim the pokeball correctly. "Return! RETURN! SAWSBUCK PLEEAASE RETURN!" The pokemon only stopped at the door and hit his hoof against it twice.

The absolute last person Ed wanted to see opened up the door.

"Ed?" It sounded frustrated, that tone meant he was in trouble.

A sheepish smile spread across Ed's face, "Hi dad." he nervously chuckled.

He patted the head of his friend, "Thank you Sawsbuck." the deer gave a happy snort and slowly let Ed down before letting the other two children safely off of his back.

Hohenheim led them all inside and sat them down on the couch, "I told you that you weren't allowed to battle."

Ed looked downwards. "Who says we were battling?"

His father turned to the pokemon, "Were they trying to battle?" he nodded his head. "Don't lie Ed."

Ed's mouth was agape with shock, Sawsbuck had literally _tattled on them._

"Trisha? Could you come in here?" Ed's fear grew larger, he knew this was certain death.

"What is it? What's Sawsbuck doing in here? Why does Ed look guilty…" she faced him and crossed her arms.

"They were trying to battle with Sawsbuck."

"WHAT!?" she looked at the three of them, her nose wrinkled and face angry, "I told you you were too young to battle! And STEALING your FATHER'S pokemon like that-"

Ed sniffled, "I'm sorry mom, it was all my fault… I just was so sick of Cal and his dumb words." he clenched his hands into fists

Trisha sighed, "Edward, you need to know that stealing is wrong, and that you can never do that again, okay? Not just your father's pokemon, stealing any pokemon, anything is wrong. It makes other people sad when you take their things without their permission." she paused and turned to his brother, "Same for you Alphonse, I can't believe you did this, its very unlike you."

"B-but…" Al began to quiver.

Ed spoke up quickly, "No! It wasn't his fault! It was all mine! I just dragged him along! It's all my fault… "I'm sorry mom," he sniffled and leaped into her arms, his mother had a way to bring out the emotions in him.

She ran her fingers through his hair, "It's okay Ed, it's gonna be alright."

"Are you gonna punish Al?"

"No."

"Am I still in trouble?"

Trisha smiled, "Just because you are sorry it doesn't mean you escape punishment…" she looked up in thought, "Now… let's see… because you stole your father's pokemon… he can steal your dessert for a week."

"NOOOO!" Ed deflated.

Al pet his head, "It's okay brother, I'll tell you exactly how it tastes, I'll be really descriptive so you can imagine it!"

"Thanks Al." He muttered bitterly huffing and crossing his arms.

* * *

Tears welled up in Ed's eyes as he whimpered and whined. Everything hurt, so damn fucking bad. Why, why did it all hurt so much? It was only his knee that was bleeding. He huffed, everything was right, the calculations, the ingredients, he couldn't understand why it didn't work.

That _thing_ said he'd paid his toll only to see what he saw, he hadn't paid enough then, to see his mother again. He tried to take hat he couldn't pay up for… he tried to steal… and this was his penalty… But it wasn't Al's fault.

Al shouldn't have been punished too, but he couldn't see him anywhere.

The only thing he could see was this grotesque creature in the center of the transmutation circle. A shudder of dread went through him as it fell apart, its little skin it had hardly containing the bones that made up its skeleton. That- wasn't his mother.

He bit his knuckles as hard as he could, he just wanted his mom back, it was what this was all for, all the studying and training, all the hard work planning the perfect transmutation.

Ed was almost frozen in fear tears rolled down his cheeks, "N-no! It wasn't supposed to be this way! Mom- Al! ALPHONSE!" he called out, tears flowing like waterfalls. Al was gone, just like mom, he just couldn't accept that.

He exhaled shakily, "THIS ISN'T HOW IT ENDS! YOU HEAR ME!?" tears streamed down his face, "YOU HEAR ME YOU MONSTER!? THE WORLD! THE UNIVERSE! EVERYTHING! GOD?! WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT TO CALL YOURSELF!"

"He's my little brother…" he exhaled, I've lost my mom, my bastard of a father, I CAN'T LOSE HIM TOO!" He clapped his hands and placed them upon the large circle on the floor, "TAKE MY ARMS! TAKE MY LEG! TAKE MY HEART IF YOU WANT IT! HE'S MY LITTLE BROTHER! HE'S ALL I'VE GOT LEFT!" a bright light enveloped him and he was gone.

The beast was before him again, "Back for more? What a foolish boy your are."

"Give me back my brother! I'm not leaving without him!"

"You can't get him back. You don't have enough of a toll. Even if you gave everything you had, it would only be enough for a part of him."

Tears continued to fall and evaporate into the odd air, "I DON'T CARE! TAKE WHATEVER YOU WANT FROM ME! I'LL TAKE ANY PART OF HIM YOU WILL GIVE! JUST GIVE AL BACK TO ME!"

"If that's what you wish… Alchemist."

The cold, dark hands of the gate grabbed hold of him once more and pulled him backwards, and as they were about to close he saw a glimpse of a small black and red creature.

Relief filled him as he heard the thing he longed to hear.

"BROTHER!"

"Al…" he uttered.

When Edward opened up his eyes again, his arm was missing, red blood seeping out of his shoulder. Though he looked upward and found a sorrowful looking black and red pokemon whimpering above him, "Z-Zor-"

It suddenly seemed all too quiet and he could hear the scratching at the door that he hadn't noticed before. Suddenly, sharp pointed stars shattered the door into pieces and Eevee leaped inside, only to stop due to horror.

She focused her attention the the unfamiliar pokemon, "Ee-Ehveeh!"

"Zor-Zorua!"

"Eehvee! Ee!"

"Zor… Zua…"

"Eeh…"

"ZOR! ZUA!" the black pokemon called to her, "Zorua! Zor!" the brown pokemon seemed hesitant but took what she could from the Zorua before hoisting Ed's top half under her, while the Zorua lifted up Ed's bottom half in a much clumsier manor.

They carefully climbed the stairs that lead outside and rushed through the cool night air toward the Rockbell's abode.

"Al…" Ed exhaled, "You're okay?" he coughed up blood and swallowed it after a small bit of choking.

A faint, voice appeared inside his head, " _Brother, why? How?"_

"Telepathy, heh, gave my arm-must'a been used-make your body."

" _Wh-why!? Why brother!?"_ the faint voice faded quickly.

"For you Al…"

Eevee carefully laid Ed's head down before scratching and calling through the door.

Footsteps were heard and the doorknob turned, Winry's shriek was so loud it knocked the last bit of Edward's consciousness right out. It was then that he'd finally found some dreamless rest in his pain.

Well, that was what he got for stealing.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this AU! This will follow the main plotline of the Manga and second Anime but with original content and lots of pokemon. I always appreciate any feedback or comments you have for me! Thanks for reading!**


	2. Visit of Fate

When Edward opened his eyes, he immediately regretted it. It felt like the light in the room had whacked him upside the head. He took a few moments to just inhale and exhale as the events of yesterday flooded his mind.

No wonder it felt like his arm and leg had been chopped off.

The bed felt too hot with the blanket over him and everything felt off. His head was mashing colors together so that he couldn't really see straight, and his mouth was so dry it felt like a trapinch could make a den in there.

Footsteps were heard and the doorknob turned, it all felt louder than it should have been. The familiar sight of Winry appeared along with a bucket of water and a rag. She jumped a little upon noticing golden eyes looking at her, losing some of the water in the bucket.

"Ed!" she set down to bucket so no more water would be lost. "You're awake!"

"'Eah, I guues." Ed's head was having trouble with speech, thinking was easy, but forming words with his mouth seemed difficult.

"You need more rest before you are ready for interaction." The twelve year old girl sighed, dipping the rag in the bucket and laying it across Ed's hot forehead.

Ed hummed at the cool rag on his head, "Mmm thank Win."

"You better get some rest before Granny comes in to talk to you, she's got some choice words for you…"

Ed groaned, "Course'." he laid his head back onto the soft pillow, until a very troubling thought hit him in the gut. He leaned upwards, fighting his pain, he yelled out, "AL!" replacing the fog in his head with worry.

"Ed-"

"Where is he-" he looked around frantically.

"We don't know… Eevee and this, this other pokemon Granny called it a Zorua, carried you-"

"Let me see him! Al! He- Al!" Ed couldn't get the words quite right to convey his situation. "Zorua!"

"It's been whimpering and whining ever since it got here with you last night… Eevee seems to have been talking with it." Winry recalled the chatter throughout the night of 'Eeh-vee!' and 'Zor-Zu! Zua!'. "Eevee seems a bit protective over it."

Ed mumbled, "Him."

Winry blinked, "Hm?"

"Him." Ed swallowed, "Not it."

"Oh… I'm sorry Ed, I didn't-"

"Bring em, needta see-" he seemed out of breath.

"You need to rest Ed-"

"BRING HIM! PLEASE!" it was the clearest Ed had sounded since waking up.

Winry gave in, "Alright, I'm bringing in Granny too then." Ed nodded in response as Winry left. He heard a small commotion downstairs with words he couldn't quite make out before he could hear many footsteps heading towards him again.

His eyes brightened the slightest bit when a small pokemon ran into the room crying its name, "ZorUA!" Winry followed with Eevee behind her, and a pichu hopping alongside as well. Pinako was close behind as well with Den by her side.

Ed reached out a bit with his remaining arm for the Zorua, but the pokemon seemed hesitant. Ed blinked, "Tis' kay, come on, jump up."

"No Edward, we don't know who this pokemon is, and it could be dangerous to have anyone at all on the bed with you." Pinako reasoned, yet Ed revolted.

"No! He's coming up!" he encouraged the small pokemon, "Jump up here!" The black and red pokemon hesitated, but ended up listening to Ed and hopped up onto the bed.

"Edward. I just said-"

"I know what you said but you're wrong!" his head was finally clearing up. "I do know this pokemon! He ain't a pokemon at all! This pokemon is Al!"

The two humans took a step back in shock as Ed patted Al's head with his remaining hand.

Pinako shook her head, "Do you have any proof this is Alphonse, Edward?"

"My fucking missing arm should be enough proof for you." he exhaled harshly, "My right arm is what made up his new body!"

Winry stepped forwards, "Ed that's ridiculous! Do you-" Pinako placed her hand on Winry's shoulder, silencing her.

She stepped forwards, "I saw what was in the basement." Ed looked downward, the Zorua looked away as well, his ears sagging down in shame. "I know what you tried to do. I know about the horrors of Alchemy and what it can do if you ask for more than you can afford." she paused, "Your father used to ramble about it on drunken nights, how dangerous it could be." she closed her eyes, "Forbidden Alchemy. You boys were foolish to try to bring her back."

"We just wanted mom back." he mumbled, pulling Al a bit closer.

Pinako sighed, "Now how can you sure that is Al?"

"Well, first of all I gave my arm, like I said before… and he talked to me, with telepathy before I passed out. It was him Granny."

Winry pursed her lips, "I don't know Ed, I think you may have imagined it. Zorua hasn't used telepathy a single time since we've met him."

"I didn't imagine it! I heard him clear as day!" Ed argued with anger.

"Eehveh!" Eevee jumped up with a chirp, "Ee-vee!"

Pinako nodded, "Well it seems like Eevee agrees with what Ed is saying, she is convinced this is Al too, she has been talking with him all night."

"Doesn't explain the telepathy though…" the young blonde trailed off in thought.

"Perhaps it was a thing in the moment, an adrenaline rush of sorts, Al is still getting used to this body and doesn't know how to use it properly yet." Pinako reasoned, "As Ed is getting used to his body Al needs to do the same. That is our primary focus at the moment."

Winry nodded in response while Ed merely pulled Al a bit closer to him.

He pet the fluff atop Al's head, "This is gonna take some getting used to," Al looked up at him, "But, we'll manage." Al yipped in agreement and offered a grin.

They'd make do.

Almost a week had passed and Ed graduated from the bed to a wheelchair which would be parked around the house so he could be a part of the action. Though he didn't really do much. He had little energy or will to put into things. Mostly Ed would just sit around and pat Al on the head every once in a while.

The pokemon around the house would try to cheer him up with some attempts to be silly or cute.

Pichu would balance on a ball and roll around on it until she bumped into Eevee which prompted them to both burst into bubbly chirps and laughter. Yet it did nothing to help Ed's forlorn face.

Meanwhile Al was trying to get used to his small stature and trying to figure out being a quadruped.

He knew each pokemon had moves and such but he may be a special case. He wasn't _actually_ a pokemon, right?

He had found himself embarrassed over the past few days, drooling over pokemon food and treats that Eevee, Pichu, and Den had received.

However when the other pokemon offered he would decline, for he had to keep a little bit of his pride intact. Though he did feel a bit of regret afterwards, seeing them all enjoy their meals.

Human food still tasted the same as it always did, but Pokemon food had an allure it didn't quite have before.

He could see the others also playing around, Eevee using swift and watching Pichu happily chase after the stars that flew through the air. Pichu would then in return, use double team and have Eevee try to figure out which one was the real Pichu. He wondered if he could even use moves or an ability at all.

He'd found his answer sooner than he expected…

Later that night around dinnertime, Winry was bringing Ed in his plate of dinner but found herself tripping over Den. Before she knew it she was heading towards the floor.

He called out to her _"WINRY!"_

She looked below her and there was a soft pillow there, though when she landed it still felt like the hard ground. Al rushed to catch the plate in his mouth as the pillow seemed to fade into nonexistence.

"Al," she whispered, "Was that you?" She'd heard him.

The pokemon seemed a bit confused himself but he hesitantly nodded, he attempted to bring his thoughts to her once more, _"I think I'm getting better at telepathy."_

Winry offered a small smile and nodded, "Let's get Ed his dinner, he needs to eat something today."

Al nodded and followed her, hoping Ed would find the ability to eat that night.

The next morning, Eevee had stayed home to keep Ed company while Winry and Al set out to the small local bookshop. There they hoped to get their hands, (and paws) on a certain book.

Pichu was perched on Winry's shoulder, peering at the bookshelves around her as the bell on the door rang. She let Pichu use her arm as a way down before she leaned down in front of them, "Alright, we are looking for a book that could have information about the kind of pokemon Al is in it, okay?"

Pichu seemed to do a salute as Al nodded in agreement.

"Alright." Winry grinned, "Let's take a look around."

Al scoped around the lower shelves, searching for book titles that could possibly have pokemon in them, yet found himself a bit too distracted with other titles.

Pichu ran across the top of a shelf, knocking books out of Winry's reach into her arms. She read the spines of each book, "No, not this, this won't do either… this one maybe?" she flipped a bit through the book, struggling due to how full her arms were. She frowned, "Nope these are a list of pokemon only found in the Xingese region…"

"Pii…" Pichu jumped into Winry's arms as the blue eyed girl turned to the small pokemon looking on the other bookshelf.

"Any luck Al-" she turned to see a very distracted Alphonse, she loudly cleared her throat, "Eh-hEM."

The Zorua sheepishly looked up from the Science book he was reading. "Yes, Winry?" a sheepish smile on his face.

She brought a hand to her forehead, "At least do that weird thing and make it look like its a pokemon book Al." she sighed, "This is getting difficult." she looked around and smiled as she spotted an older man reading at a desk, "Excuse me sir!"

The shopkeep looked upwards and smiled, "Ah Winry, here for another book on mechanics?"

She approached the desk, "Not this time."

The man smiled upon seeing the critter on her shoulder, "Is that your pokemon Winry?"

"Yea! I caught her about a month ago! This is Pichu!"

"Pi-chuu!" the small pokemon greeted.

The shopkeep chuckled, "It's very nice to meet you, and who is this?" he looked down at the Zorua near her feet.

Winry choked up a little, but soon cleared her throat, "Well, you see uh- this pokemon is-" Al gave her an anxious glance, "is…" Pichu gave her a frown, "Why I'm here!" the two pokemon seemed to sigh with relief at her quick answer.

"Oh?" the shopkeeper seemed interested.

"I came here to look for a pokemon identification book since my Granny and I don't have access to a pokedex, Zorua here is an interesting pokemon we'd like to know more about."

"I see." The man stood up, "I may have just the book you are looking for but it's in the far back, follow me." he led the three into a doorway behind his desk where a few dusty old books were held in various boxes and crates. He stepped over to an old looking shelf near the back. He picked up a book and blew the dust off of it, "This one has a variety of pokemon in it, I think you should be able to find Zorua in here." he handed Winry the book.

She flipped through the table of contents until she found the word she was looking for, "There it is! Thank you sir!"

"Not an issue dear." The man lead them back into the meain shop before he sat back down at his desk. Winry made her purchase with a smile, calling a 'thanks' as the bell rang behind her.

The three rushed home and burst through the door.

"Ed! Look what we have!" the boy sitting across the room hardly glanced upwards. Winry toned down her voice a bit as she and the other two pokemon sat across from him.

"We found a book…" Ed didn't seem too interested.

Concerned, Al used his telepathy, _"It will tell us more stuff about the pokemon I am!"_ Ed perked up in surprise at the words flooding into his head.

Ed watched as Winry turned pages in the book until she found the right page, she began to read. "Zorua, the Tricky Fox pokemon. A Dark type. Weak to Fighting, Fairy, and Bug. This pokemon's ability, Illusion allows it to hide its true form by changing its shape into people and other pokemon. It can also cause people to see things that aren't really there. Zorua is known to enjoy scaring and surprising people with its abilities. However, Zorua can't keep up its illusions forever, it will get exhausted if it holds an illusion for too long, the illusion will easily break if the pokemon takes damage."

"So that's what that was before, an illusion." Winry gave Al a toothy grin, "No wonder it still hurt when I hit the ground." she paused, "Oh hey, look. The picture in the book is a tad different, Zorua usually has blue eyes, but yours are gold Al." Al looked at the page in curiosity.

Al looked away sheepishly but his attention was grabbed by something else. "That's pretty cool Al, huh." Edward had the dimmest bit of brightness in his sad, dead tired eyes. That made Al grin ear to ear.

The rest of the day was spent with Al practicing his illusionary skills, and attempting to master his telepathy.

Two raps were heard at the front door in the early morning, breakfast hadn't even been made yet. Pinako went to answer the door and was faced with a military man with a Rapidash beside him, it's flames burning brightly. She stepped back a bit in surprise, which caused her to notice the short haired woman behind him, a Gardevoir beside her.

The man practically shoved his way inside. He looked around the room and his eyes locked on Ed like a target. Despite Granny's angry words he continued, intimidatingly making his way towards Ed, a threat in each step.

"What did you do?" He demanded an answer sharply.

Ed only looked downwards. He gasped a little as he was lifted up by his shirt, "I saw the basement. What the hell was that!? What did you do!?" Mustang suddenly felt a surge of pain and cried out.

He ripped his hand away from the Eevee who had bitten him.

There was a tense moment where the only thing that could be heard was breathing. Then a voice in Roy's head cut through it like a blade.

 _"We're sorry."_ he looked down to see a Zorua look up at him, _"We're so sorry."_ his voice seemed to almost break.

"Telepathy… wait, are you?..." He uttered, placing Ed down taking some steps backwards, his eyes softening.

"There's a long story here, so you better take a seat." Pinako walked towards Mustang.

"I heard there was a skilled alchemist that lived out here, so I came to check them out. The last thing I expected was a young boy, skilled enough to attempt human transmutation, or to form a living pokemon body that could inhabit a soul. He is more than qualified to become a state alchemist. If he accepts this position he will be required to serve the state in times of national emergency. He will also gain access to otherwise restricted research materials." he paused for a moment, "In time they may be to find a way to get their bodies back to normal…" he sighed, "It's strange, most kids are starting pokemon journeys at this age, and these two are committing taboo." Mustang looked thoughtful.

"Well they've never been normal children per say, when Edward was only five he stole his father's pokemon so he could have a battle with some kid getting on his nerves." Pinako spoke as she smoked her pipe. "Just because they are talented doesn't mean they aren't still children." Her voice seemed to darken. "These boys went through hell and back with a horrible decision driven by Alchemy. Alchemy did this to them. Would you really want them to go through that hell again!?"

Edward hadn't moved a muscle since the conversation began, Al nudged his leg, sending a soft message to him, _"I'm right here for you brother."_

Ed still looked just as dead.

The short haired woman sat on the couch in the next room. Small footsteps approached her. Blue eyes were hesitant, "Some tea?" a Pichu peeked out from behind her feet.

"Oh, thank you." The woman replied pleasantly, accepting the cup from the girl. Winry sat down beside her.

"You have a pretty pokemon…" Winry trailed off, "It looks pretty powerful too…"

"Thank you. She's a gardevoir." the woman replied.

"Lieutenant-"

"Please just Riza, Riza Hawkeye."

Winry looked away, "Lieutenant Riza…" Hawkeye frowned. "Has that pokemon ever assisted you in killing anyone? You must have killed before too, have you ever had to shoot someone?"

Riza was taken aback, but answered the question, "Yes, I have, we have."

"My parents were taken away by people like you… Mom and her Audino, Dad and his Blissey. They never came back. None of them." she shook a bit but kept her composure, "Now you've come to take Ed and Al away… probably even Eevee too."

The Lieutenant sighed, "If they do end up going it will their decision and their decision alone. It's all up to them to decide if they want to do this Winry, nobody is forcing them."

Winry's head barely moved in a nod as Pichu leaped onto her lap to give her a hug.

Mustang stood up, "It's only an offer, you don't have to take it. But, if I were you I'd do whatever it takes to get your bodies back. Seize any opportunity. Don't hesitate or you'll lose the battle, cause your opponent will strike first. It may be your only chance to get your bodies back." he turned and began to walk into the other room, "Think about it. After all, your Eevee did bite me over this visit, might as well make it worthwhile."

"Miss Riza, why did you become a soldier?"

"Because… there's someone I have to protect."

Mustang entered the room with his coat on his arm, Rapidash following behind. "Come lieutenant, we're leaving."

"Yes sir." Her Gardevoir followed behind with loyalty. "So long young lady, it was nice meeting you."

The young girl leaped up and held out her hand, "Winry."

"Yes… so long Winry." Riza smiled and followed Mustang out of the house.

They both walked along the long dirt path. "So, will they be accepting the offer?"

"I'm sure of it."

The small smile continued to grace her face, "You do know the only reason Rapidash didn't kick that Eevee through a wall was because Gardevoir held him back."

Mustang chuckled a bit, "Of course I know that." he pet his pokemon's muzzle. "He needs to learn some self control."

Riza's face fell as her thoughts lead back to the Elrics, "That poor boy, I've never seen anyone alive look so dead… he looked so defeated."

"Oh? You saw defeat?" Mustang grinned, "I saw fire in those eyes." They continued to walk down the path in silence, preparing to board the train back to East City.

* * *

 **Hello! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I really appreciate any feedback you have for me and I love hearing from my readers! It motivates me to write more when I know how much people enjoy my work. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Moving Forwards

Al paced back and forth in the cool night breeze. He blended in well with the darkness, the only real visible part of him was the red patches of his fur and his golden eyes that reflected the moonlight. The moonlight was calming in a way it wasn't before. It brought a sense of calm over him. It must have been because he was a dark type.

"One year." he thought to himself. Only one year was what Ed had said. It worried Al. Ed was in surgery right now, it was probably extremely painful.

Ed really wanted to restore their bodies… but automail surgery is an intense operation, and he plans on completing it in a third of the time. He was doing so much.

Al at least wanted to be able to do something too. He wanted to challenge himself and move forwards like his brother was doing. He flipped onto his back and gazed up at the starry sky. "What could I even do?" he laid there for a while, gazing upwards until his eyes had memorized the view of the sky.

He snorted in frustration, "Zua! Zu!" he couldn't get his brain to calm down.

Small footsteps on wood were heard from behind, Al looked towards the noise, "Eeveh? Ee?" Eevee was standing on the porch.

"What's wrong Al?" she asked, leaping towards him and laying down beside him on her belly.

"I don't know, I guess I'm just a bit frustrated with myself."

"How come?" Eevee nudged him.

Al looked a tad sheepish, but responded, "Brother is doing so much, automail, he's getting new limbs, he's doing so much for me… yet I feel like there's not much I can do for him right now."

Eevee seemed to ponder his words, "Well, there may be something you can do…"

"Really?!" Al perked up.

Eevee nodded, "Earlier before Ed went into surgery… he was talking to Pinako and Winry. One thing he said really stuck out to me."

Al sat up and leaned towards her, "What did he say?"

She grinned, "He said that all he really wanted, was to see your smile again."

Al seemed to slump a little, "Oh. Well, I can't do much about that."

"Why say that? You are the Tricky Fox Pokemon after all." Al tilted his head in confusion, "The book said you could transform into people and other pokemon, who's to say you can't disguise you as yourself!"

Al blinked in surprise, he hadn't considered that at all. "You really think I could?!"

"With a little practice, yea!" Eevee hopped up, "Now let's start seeing what you can really do." she stood in front of him, "Try to transform into me."

"Okay!" Al replied enthusiastically, yet several minutes passed and all they really did was look at each other, " How do I do that Eevee?"

The brown pokemon frowned, "I'm not sure, you did an illusion before right? When Winry fell with Ed's dinner? How did you do that?"

"I just wanted something to catch her, so I focused on how much I wanted to break her fall, and it just kinda, happened?" Al shrugged a bit.

"Well then focus on me, find it deep inside yourself to transform into me!" she encouraged.

Al squinted his eyes shut and focused on the image of Eevee, her brown fur, her hazelnut colored eyes, her white fluff around her neck.

He opened his eyes when he heard Eevee gasp. "D-did I do it!?"

Eevee gave a half smile, "You're getting there?" Al looked down at himself, his fur was the right shade of brown, the fluff around his neck was white rather than black, the red spots on his feet were white too, but…

"I'm definitely still a Zorua." he sighed, "I just have the colors of an Eevee."

"Practice makes perfect, keep trying." Eevee placed a paw on his shoulder, "You can do it! I believe in you!"

Al took her words to heart and nodded, he could do this.

Each and every night that Ed spent recovering and resting, Al and Eevee spent out in the yard, practicing Al's transformation skills.

Three months had passed very slowly and painfully, but both of the brothers were pushing forwards their goals.

One month into Al's training, Pichu had seen him practicing and thought it would be fun if he could turn into her. She joined their group with training from then on and aided Al in his transformations.

It was around lunchtime and Winry took the sandwich that Pinako prepared for Ed, and brought it upstairs. Upon seeing the sandwich, Ed's eyes lit up. He greedily ripped the sandwich out of Winry's hands and munched on his lunch.

"Ah! I was Starvihn'!" he laughed, his mouth full of food.

"Eww, can't you eat like a normal human being?" Winry crossed her arms and looked away in disgust.

He swallowed, "You try going through automail surgery! All this recovery stuff is exhausting!"

"Whatever Ed," blue eyes were rolled, "It's just your excuse to avoid manners."

"Think what you want." Ed shrugged, "Hey, do you know where Al is? I kinda wanna talk to him about something."

"I'm not your errand girl Ed." she huffed.

"I know that, I just can't exactly go get him myself!" Ed argued.

"Alright then but this is the last favor today. Someone else can bring your mannerless ass your meals." she walked downstairs, "Alphonse! Ed wants to talk to you!"

No response. "Alphonse?" she called. "Den," she pet the Mightyena's head, "Have you seen Al?" she rose her head and shook it left to right, stretching her front leg and automail limb out.

"Of course," She groaned, "Pichu! Where are you? Have you seen Al?" no response either, "Pichu?" her heart pumped a bit faster.

She ran through a few different rooms, "Eevee?! Are you here!?" She couldn't hear a peep from the fox like pokemon.

She ran out the door, "Eevee! Al?! Pichu!" she ran outside, it was the only place they could be. She took of running down a path calling out the names of her friends, she was so worried she didn't even see the milkman.

She was extremely lucky no bottles of milk were shattered in the resulting crash. "Are you alright young lady?" The man asked, holding his hand.

The blonde was horrified, "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, I can't find my pokemon and I figured they must have gone this way-I didn't even see you, I'm so sorry."

The man raised his hand up, "No worries, no harm done young lady. Now, you said you were looking for some pokemon?"

"Yes, I'm looking for a Pichu, an Eevee, and a Zorua."

The man held a hand up to his chin, "Well I can't say about a Zorua, but I did see a Pichu and an Eevee running off into that little wooded area not too long ago." he pointed to an area riddled with trees.

"Thank you." Winry took off with her mind in a panic, he had seen Pichu and Eevee, but where was Al? She hoped he was alright.

She stepped into the woods, avoiding the taller grassy areas. "Pichu! Eevee!" she called, "Where are you!? Where's Al?"

She looked around, her anxiety rising, nothing. She was about to lose hope when, "Eeh-veh!"

She turned and saw Eevee running towards her, Pichu close behind a little 'pi' with every step she ran. A weedle was following behind them.

Winry frowned, "Where's Al? I don't see him anywhere! What are you three doing out here? Wh-"

"Oh calm down Winry." a voice in her head laughed. She fell to the ground in surprise when the Weedle turned into HER.

She let out a yelp as her double nearly fell over laughing. The other Winry held out a hand that she hesitantly took before being helped up. The other Winry seemed to do almost what seemed like a flip before revealing Alphonse, snickering and giggling. His tail wagged happily as his laughter rang out.

"Al! That wasn't funny! That goes for Pichu and Eevee too!" she brushed the dirt off of her dress. "What was that anyways?

"My ability! Illusion! Pichu and Eevee have been helping me master it! I've gotten really good at it so we wanted to practice in the woods. When we see a wild pokemon, I try to transform into it. I'd say I'm pretty good at humans too." Al gave a toothy grin.

Winry looked a tad confused, "If that was an illusion, how come I could touch you? You were able to help me up."

Al wagged his tail, "Turns out if the illusion is me, then the illusion takes on a more physical form! Isn't that cool!?"

"Yea it is!" she grinned, "Wait, does this mean you can transform to look like your human self!?"

"Well I haven't tried it yet, but with a reference I should be able to!"

"Eeh! Ehveh!" Eevee agreed.

"Pi-chuu!" The yellow pokemon leaped up onto her trainer.

"Alright then! Let's go home!" Winry ran straight home with Pichu on her shoulder and the other two pokemon in pursuit.

When Winry place the photo in front of Al, he didn't do anything for a moment, he just sat there and gazed at it with a bit of sadness.

He wondered if he would feel like himself again if he were able to transform. Probably not… but he could dream. He took some steps back on the living room floor and focused on the image. He took a jump, flipped, and found himself standing on two feet.

Winry teared up a bit, "Al…" she sniffled, "You did it!"

"Eehvee!"

"Pii!" the other pokemon cheered. Al's hand was grabbed as he was dragged to a mirror. The face staring back at him made tears start to sprout in his eyes as well.

He found himself frowning however, "I still don't feel like myself, and I can't look like this forever… This form will be exhausted eventually, and I can't keep it while I'm asleep… or if I'm injured."

"Eeh, ehvee vee!" Eevee chirped.

"You're right Eevee." he gave a small grin.

"What did she say?" Winry asked.

"She said to remember, that this isn't to solve the problem, it's so Ed can see my smile again. We should go see him." Al turned to Winry.

"Well, actually, maybe you should change back first?" she offered, "It may alarm him if you just walk in like that."

"Oh, right…" he flashed back to a Zorua and lead the way up the stairs.

Winry was the first to open the door, "Hey Ed…"

Golden eyes shone with a bit of annoyance, "What took so long?" he noticed how anxious she looked, "Is everything okay?" his eyes softened, "Where's Al?"

"Oh! Everything is fine, its just that Al has something he would really like to show you…" she stepped aside to let the Zorua in.

"What is it Al?"

The Zorua stepped up to the bed, "I have something to show you." Ed nodded, and simple as that, he transformed.

Ed's breath hitched, "Oh, oh my god," Al gave him the brightest smile he could muster, Ed took a shaky breath in, "AL!" he leaned towards his brother and was caught by Al's arms when he almost fell off the bed.

"Brother! Careful! You're still recovering." Al lifted him back upward as Ed's arms wrapped around him.

"I don't care! I can feel you!" he laughed a little, "I didn't know your illusions could do this."

"Well, it's only when I turn into things…" Al hugged back, "My other illusions can't do this."

Ed nodded, "Hey Al?" He leaned out of the hug and winced at the pain. "This is fantastic, you can go around looking like yourself and be treated like yourself, even though you can't look like yourself all the time, it's a start!"

Al grinned, "Yeah!"

Ed pursed his lips, "But there's… One issue. It's a bit off putting to hear your voice in my head and not see your lips move." Al nodded with a frown, "Do you think it's possible to learn human speech with that body?"

"Well," Winry tapped her chin in thought, "There have been instances of pokemon being able to communicate through human language before, and it could be even easier for Al because he was human before!" her voice brightened at the idea of it as she turned to Alphonse. "What do you think?"

He grinned, "I could try it."

Ed leaned over for another painful hug which Al couldn't help but to return. "Oh that's right!" Winry spoke up, "Ed what did you want to talk to Al about?"

Ed blinked, "Oh yeah, that was a thing? I honestly completely fucking forget what I wanted to talk about, in all honesty this is way better so it's alright."

Ed smiled, "Yeah, everything's alright."

The year was finally over, and Ed was moving on his own, he could walk, he could use his arms and legs. Al couldn't be happier.

Ed scarfed down his breakfast like he used to, in fact he seemed even hungrier than before now.

He stood and stretched, "Alright Al, time to get to some training! If you're gonna join me on my journey, we've gotta work on your moves!"

Al nodded, the fluff on his head bouncing, "Ready when you are brother." he spoke, his mouth moving. He had relearned his speaking ability and was getting quite proficient at speaking how he used to.

Ed ran towards the door, "Don't think that excludes you Eevee!" the small pokemon stretched in front of her empty food bowl and hopped off after the brothers.

The door burst open as they all nearly fell down the stairs, ready to train. "Okay, Eevee you will be Al's opponent, use any moves you'd like."

"Eehveh!" she chirped in response, taking a battle ready stance.

"Alright! Ready Al?!"

"Ready brother!"

"The let's go! Use scratch!" Al lunged at Eevee who jumped back and used swift, stars shot towards Al. "Dodge it!" Al leaped to the side, just barely missing it.

"Are you okay Al?" Ed asked, Al nodded, "Alright! Then use pursuit!" A dark energy seemed to surround Al as he charged towards Eevee, directly hitting her.

"Good job Al!" he cheered, "You okay Eevee?"

"Eehveh!" The pokemon responded before using bite. She bit Al's tail and used her leverage to throw him downwards.

"Al! Use scratch!" Al raised his claws but they hit a barrier as Eevee used Protect, Al gritted his teeth as Eevee landed across from him. What he wasn't prepared for was her baby doll eyes.

Al felt a bit weaker after that move, he really enjoyed it outside of battle, but not so much otherwise. "Al!" Ed called, "Use Pursuit!" the pokemon charged towards the other but was hit with another round of swift.

The stars blew him over, and before he knew it Eevee was on top of him, pinning him to the ground.

"Battle over!" Ed announced, coming over to Al as Eevee jumped off, "It's okay, you almost beat her this time."

Al shook his dizzy head and tried to regain his balance, "You're a bit too strong for me Eevee."

"Ehveh!" Eevee giggled.

"You should take a rest for a bit." he stretched out his limbs.

"Hey brother," Al began, looking at his arm, "I can use moves but what about Alchemy?"

"Hm." Ed shrugged, I don't think either of us have tried it since, you know… It wouldn't hurt to try."

Al grinned and watched as Ed clapped his hands together and put it to his arm, he watched as it grew into a blade. Golden eyes widened and glistened, "WOW! BROTHER!"

Ed grinned with a laugh, "Edward used Knife Arm!" he joked.

"No brother! You can do what teacher does! You can perform alchemy without a transmutation circle!" Al hopped in excitement.

"Oh… you don't know how?" he frowned.

"Of course I don't! That's amazing brother!"

Ed frowned, "I guess you didn't see it then."

"See what?" Al cocked his head to the side, confused.

"Nothing." Ed gave a little grin, "Now let's see what you can do."

Al gave him a little odd look before drawing his circle in the dirt and successfully making a bunch of flowers in the garden into a flower crown. He tossed it onto his head with his paw, "How does it look?"

"Awesome as always!" Ed held out a fist and Al bumped his paw to it, Eevee hopped over as well and added her paw in.

A couple more days of training had passed before Ed decided it was time.

He sat everyone down in the living room. "Okay, here's my letter from Mustang, it tells me everything I need to have to be prepared, and it also says I need to have my whole team with me to be registered. Any pokemon I bring have in their pokeballs so they can be properly registered…"

He looked down at Al with a solemn expression, "Alphonse, you aren't officially my pokemon unless you're caught in a pokeball."

"Oh." Al frowned a little.

"Listen," Ed leaned down and pet his head, "You won't be in it that often, you'll almost never be in it unless you absolutely have to be. It's also a safety precaution, we don't want someone else catching you, right?"

"I understand brother." he nodded slowly as Granny returned with a pokeball she had lying around. She handed it to Ed.

"Alright Al, when your ready, just press that button." he held out the red and white ball.

Al nodded, took a deep breath, and exhaled before pressing his head to the button and allowing the ball's red light to pull him in. The ball shook once, twice, a third time, and then a click sounded out and stars twinkled around it briefly.

Ed smiled and tossed the ball in the air, releasing Alphonse. The Zorua landed in his arms and nuzzled under Ed's chin, while Ed hugged Al close.

"That wasn't as bad as I thought." he grinned, "I feel safe knowing that you have my pokeball."

"I'm glad you do." Ed smiled. "Now, what do you say we board a train to East City!?"

"Yeah!"

"Evheh!"

"At least eat some lunch first you three!" Winry yelled.

"Don't worry! We'll eat on the train!" Ed called back.

"Yeah!" Al agreed, "Bye Winry! Bye Everyone!"

"Pichuu!"

"Yena!"

"Don't wreck my automail! I saw your damn knife arm earlier!"

Ed laughed a bit and turned forwards to look where he was heading. He was finally getting somewhere.

* * *

 **So sorry this chapter took so long! I have had a rough couple weeks, I was recently diagnosed with type one diabetes and I was in the hospital for a few days and I was busy adjusting to stuff, but I'm back! I hope you all enjoy this chapter! I'd greatly appreciate any feedback you all have for me!**


	4. Burning Houses, But Not Bridges

Sometimes Alphonse questioned his love for his brother, no he did love Ed, but sometimes he really hated the things he did. Yes, things like almost committing treason while you were trying to join the military.

Al's mouth gaped open as the spear was pointed at the Fuhrer's throat. Ed's face had an almost wicked smirk. Eevee smacked her paw to her forehead as her ears drooped down in embarrassment. "Ehh…." she groaned.

Al finally began to relax when Ed pulled his spear back a little and the men around him stopped aiming their guns. The Houndoom stopped growling but remained suspicious, keeping their eyes on Ed.

Al found himself snickering a bit when the top of Ed's spear had been sliced clean off and landed on the floor with a clang. His arrogant ass had kinda deserved it for how confident he looked pointing that weapon at the Fuhrer, guns pointed at his head and pokemon ready to attack.

After the exam Al gave him an earful he thought Ed deserved as they walked to Mustang's office.

"I can't believe you did something so stupid Ed!"

"Ehveh!" Eevee agreed.

"We were so worried!" he huffed.

"Ehh-vee ee."

"Wait what? You were just embarrassed?" Al tilted his head in confusion.

"Oh come on guys, it wasn't bad, it was impressive! The Fuhrer said I have balls of steel." Ed crossed his arms with a smirk.

"Nerves of steel brother…" Al deadpanned.

"Eh same thing."

"Ehhveh." The small pokemon sighed.

Ed swung open the door to Mustang's office, the room wasn't all that big and the really only things in there were two couches that face each other, a table in between them, and Mustangs desk. There was a small yellow and orange pokemon sitting on a pillow near the edge of the desk, it was obviously a fire type. Edward walked in and took a seat as casually as possible. Not a word was spoken to Mustang.

"Ah, hello." Mustang spoke, as Ed's only response was a small hand movement of acknowledgement.

Alphonse took it upon himself to be the respectful sibling, "Hello Sir."

Mustang's eyes widened in surprise for a moment but he seemed to get over it quite quickly, "Ah, so he's learned how to speak again."

"Yea, he has." Ed looked a little annoyed, "Can we just get this over with already."

Mustang seemed to ignore the last statement as he pet the pokemon. It lifted its head, "Fenn, Kinkin."

He smirked a little, "I agree. Alright, then." he held out a fancy looking box to Ed, the alchemist snatched it and opened it. Inside was a pocket watch with the Amestrian flag symbol carved into it.

"This silver watch will serve as proof of your certification as a state alchemist." Edward looked up, Mustang opened an envelope, "This here contains your certificate of appointment." he pulled it out and exhaled a small chuckle, "Well it looks like our Fuhrer also has a sense of irony."

"What do you mean?" Ed perked up.

Mustang handed it to him, "Read it yourself."

Ed's eyes followed the words on the paper as he read them aloud. Al and Eevee leaned over to try and see a bit too.

"Fullmetal huh?" Edward uttered.

"That's right," Mustang responded, "From this point forwards you will be known as the Fullmetal Alchemist."

A giant grin spread across Ed's face, "That sounds awesome as hell! Nice and intimidating. I like it, it'll suit me just fine."

"Another thing you'll need." Mustang reached into a drawer and pulled out a red device, "This pokedex. State alchemists aren't only soldiers, but also trainers. Make sure your pokemon are well prepared for battle and to put that to good use."

Ed held up the pokedex to the pokemon on Mustang's desk, its picture appeared along with text, "Fennekin, the Fox Pokémon. Fennekin expels hot air that can reach nearly 400 degrees. It likes to snack on twigs."

"Is that all?" Ed crossed his arms.

"That is all. Congratulations, you're officially a dog of the military." with that, Edward turned and left, his pokemon following behind.

Once in the hallway, Edward thought back on something from the conversation they'd had, "Hey Al?"

The Zorua looked upwards, "Yea brother?"

"What did that Fennekin say to Mustang earlier?"

Al seemed to hesitate, "Oh, nothing important."

Ed raised an eyebrow, "Come on tell me."

"Well…" Al looked to Eevee who shook her head.

"What. Did. It. Say." Ed leaned down.

Al sighed, "She called you a bratty shrimp."

Edward seemed to kick up a dust cloud behind him as he ran towards Mustang's office, "HEY! Tell your snooty ass pokemon to keep her stupid fucking opinions to herself!"

"Goodbye Fullmetal." Mustang pretended to write something on one of the many papers littering his desk as Al and Eevee bit Ed's coat, dragging him away.

* * *

 _The fire burned brightly as what used to be their home crumbled. They stood and watched it as it was destroyed. All the memories there. Gone._

 _Eevee buried her face into the fluff around Al's neck and wept._

 _Ed sat down and gently pet both of their heads, "Guess there's no turning back now, huh."_

 _He spared only a moment's glance to Winry's tear stricken face before turning his attention back to the house they were burning to the ground._

Ed woke up the next morning in the clothes he'd worn the day before. They smelled thickly of smoke and were pretty damn filthy. He sat up and yawned, noticing Al, disguised in his human form holding Eevee in his arms.

"Mornin' Al, you ready to get moving?

Al nodded, "Mmhm."

Ed slid out of bed, hugged Al briefly before giving Eevee a kiss atop her head. "I'll be downstairs eating breakfast, hurry down before it's all gone."

Edward got dressed properly and grabbed his messily packed bag before heading downstairs.

The room smelled like eggs and cheese, and he could see everyone still eating. He grabbed a plate from the cabinet and fixed himself a portion from the pan before taking a seat.

The table was pretty silent.

Very silent.

Pichu didn't like the tenseness, "Pii…" she squeaked anxiously.

Ed sighed, "So are we gonna address the elephant in the room." silence, "Look we all know Al, Eevee, and I are leaving today, we've known for a while. No need to be tense about it."

"I suppose I'll just miss you is all." Winry picked at her food.

"We're all going to miss them Winry, but they'll be back in time." Pinako flipped the page of her newspaper.

"Piichu." the small electric pokemon frowned and hugged Winry's leg.

"Yeah, we'll be back eventually Winry." Edward shoved another bite in his mouth.

His wording only worsened her frown.

The rest of the meal was spent in silence.

The train whistles blew and the call was made for those at the Resembool stop to board. Edward felt a twinge of guilt at Winry and her Pichu's faces, they were so sad…

Ed hadn't been having the best attitude that day either…

He had to do something and he had to do it quick, he couldn't just leave like this, not with the way things were. Winry was like a sister to him and Al.

Ed suddenly reached into his pocket and made a show of digging around in it. "OH NO!" he yelled suddenly. "My pocket watch! I left it at home!"

Al raised an eyebrow, "But brother, I saw you-" Ed gave him a _look_ and Al knew what he was getting at. "Oh no!" he cried, "You need that!"

Ed nodded his head, "I guess we have to go back and get it."

"But you'll miss your train." Winry reasoned.

"I can't leave without it Winry." Ed claimed decisively, making sure the chain deep in his pocket wasn't visible. "We'll just have to take the next train in a couple hours."

With that, he ran back to the house, Al and Eevee beside him. Winry, Pichu, Den, and Pinako followed them back to the house.

The three made a show of looking around until Ed announced he was gonna look in the brother's room. They ran upstairs and shut the door.

Al flipped into his Zorua form and swished his tail back and forth. "So, what are you gonna do?"

"I dunno, I can't just let Winry be upset until we happen to come back which could be," he put a hand on his forehead, "A while."

"Well, I have an idea. It can be a way for Winry and Pichu to say goodbye to both of us in a good way."

Ed looked up, "What do you have in mind Al?"

Shuffling was heard from upstairs, followed by a loud, "FOUND IT!"

Ed nearly jumped down the stairs with Eevee on his shoulder and Al behind him, "Let's get moving!" he held up his watch.

They arrived back at the train station and there was still an hour until the train they needed to board would arrive.

Winry sat on a bench with Pichu on her shoulder, Pinako beside her with Den at her feet.

Ed sat at a separate bench, Al beside him and Eevee in his lap. He glanced at the clock, "Well, now or never." he muttered.

He stretched out and yawned before whining out, "I'm boooooooored."

Winry huffed and crossed her arms, "Well you are the one who forgot your watch."

"Yea yea I know." Ed scratched the back of his head and sighed, "Hey Winry, since we both have nothing to do, how about a battle?"

"Hm? You've never asked me to battle before." Winry pointed out.

"Well I am now, come on it will be fun and some good practice for Al. What do ya say? Al against Pichu?"

"Sure." she seemed a bit confused but stood up and followed Ed, "You do know I've never had a real battle before, right?"

"That doesn't matter, this is just for fun! Do your best, I'm sure Pichu will have fun too."

Winry watched her partner hop off her shoulder and land on the ground in front of her, "Pichupi!"

A smile graced her face, "Alright then Pichu, let's have a battle!"

"I'll let you have the first move." Ed smirked.

"Thanks, okay Pichu use round!" Pichu produced a song like sound and it seemed to smack Al across the field.

"You alright Al?" Edward asked, Al nodded, "Okay! Pursuit!" Al charged towards the Pichu with a dark aura surrounding him.

"Dodge it!" Winry shouted, but Pichu was a second late and was hit by Al's move. Winry looked across the field where Al had returned, "Pichu, use round again!"

"Al! Protect!" A barrier appeared in front of Al and the attack couldn't reach him. The barrier disappeared and Al hopped back into action, "Scratch!"

The Zorua stuck out his claws and scratched the Pichu, knocking her backwards.

Winry bit her lip as Al had the upper hand, "Pichu jump back! Get out of there and use double team!" Pichu leaped backwards and used the move, suddenly there were six Pichus, surrounding Al and running in circles.

"Use scratch and get rid of the doubles so we know which one is the real one!" Ed called, prompting Al to pounce on every one of them he could get his claws on. He'd found the correct one after the fourth and the other two remaining formed back into the original.

"He's close!" Winry called, "Use Round!" the Pichu used the move again and Al was sent flying backwards. Winry smiled as Al got up slower than last time. "We're wearing him down! Keep it up Pichu! We may just win this!"

"Al! Pursuit!" Al lunged forwards once more.

"Dodge it!" Winry cried, Pichu successfully dodged it.

"Now that you're close use scratch!" Al swiped at Pichu and the pokemon yelped, finding herself sent flying back onto her bottom once again.

"Pichu! Are you okay!?" Winry cried.

"Pii, pichuu!" her partner replied, getting back up. Al jumped closer.

"Pichu! Quick! Sweet Kiss!"

"Al! Feint Attack!"

They both collided, and Al knocked Pichu off her feet, but the kiss she blew at him had his head spinning.

Al stumbled around confused, where was he again? What was he doing? He heard a voice behind him, "Feint attack! Now!" How did he do that again? He attempted to use the move but stumbled and smacked into the ground.

Pichu giggled a little, "Good job Pichu! That should help our chances! Use round one more time!" Pichu went to use that move.

"Al? Al can you hear me!?" Alphonse turned to look at Ed but couldn't quite figure out what direction he should be looking at. "Alphonse! If you can! Use Pursuit!"

Pichu's round hit him first, but he managed to correctly use the move and hit Pichu backwards. Al snapped out of his confusion.

"Almost there Pichu!"

"Come on Al! We're close!"

"Feint Attack!" Ed called.

"Alright then, Thunder Shock!"

The two moves collided. The electric shock tossed Al backwards as soon as he used the move, and Pichu tossed herself backwards, hurt by her own electric shock.

"Al?"

"Pichu?"

"Well I think this battle's over then, and it's a draw." he chuckled a bit, scooping Al up, "You were awesome little brother, I have some potions in my bag." Al, exhausted, nuzzled under Ed's chin.

Winry, in return picked up Pichu, "I don't have any potions though…"

"You can use a couple of mine." Ed grinned, prompting her to follow him to his bag. They healed up their pokemon and congratulated them on a well fought battle.

"Pichu, that was amazing for our first battle." She nuzzled her partner's cheek, resulting in a little shock.

Ed laughed at that, sharing a couple berries with Al and Eevee.

It didn't feel like long after that until the train pulled into the station, and they called for passengers to board.

"Alright, well it's bye for real this time." Ed gave a little grin, and Al jumped into Winry's arms and gaze her a nuzzle goodbye followed behind by Eevee who made sure she had her arms full.

She laughed and held them close for a moment, "Bye Winry." Al smiled a bit.

"Ehveh!" Eevee chirped.

They hopped down onto the ground and stood beside Ed as he waved. "Bye Winry! Bye Granny!"

"We'll be visiting sometime hopefully soon!" Al called out as they boarded the train.

They waved out the windows as the train began to move away, and when they retreated back into the windows, Pinako turned to Winry.

"You do know that he didn't actually forget his watch, right?"

"Yea," Winry smiled and scritched Pichu, "I know."

Ed may have burned his house down, but that didn't mean he had to burn any bridges.

* * *

 **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Remember that I love hearing from you and any feedback you have will be greatly appreciated! I love hearing from you guys! See you all next chapter!**


	5. East City

Al found his tail wagging a bit as the train pulled into the station, his paws were pressed against the window. He could see all the people and pokemon going about their business in East City. Ed stretched out with a yawn, "Alright, Mustang said that someone would be here to meet us, so we 'wouldn't get lost' on our way to East Command." the word 'Bastard' could be heard uttered under his breath.

Al rolled his eyes as Eevee shook her head. They looked around outside, "Any way to know what this guy looks like brother?" Al asked.

Ed pursed his lips, "No but Mustang said he knows what we look like. So let's just get off."

"Alright!"

"Eehveh!" the trio grabbed whatever luggage they had and squeezed into the line of people walking off the train.

Once off, they looked around. Al stepped forwards, "I don't know brother, I don't see any people that look like they're coming towards-"

"PSAIIII!" Al found himself bumped into roughly by a very vocal Psyduck.

"Al! Are you okay?!" Al nodded as he rubbed his head, "Oi! What was that for!" The yellow pokemon only held its head and cried out once again.

"Psaaai! DUC! DUCC!"

They spotted a man in military uniform run over. "Psyduck! I told you to wait for me before running over if you saw them!"

The pokemon look down and tilted it's head, "Psaii…"

The man groaned and pet his pokemon's head, "It's okay, just remember what I told you next time."

Ed frowned as he dug his pokedex out of his bag, he held it up to the pokemon, "Psyduck, the Duck Pokémon. Psyduck suffers frequent headaches and can exhibit mysterious attacks when they become especially intense."

The man stood up and looked towards Ed, "Ah you must be Edward Elric, you can call me Jean Havoc, I'll be your escort to East Command. I was starting to wonder if you were showing up at all because you were so late."

"Yea that's me, this is my pokemon Eevee." Ed ignored the last part of Havoc's statement.

The small brown pokemon stepped forwards, "Ehveh!"

"And this is Al,"

"It's very nice to meet you." Al introduced himself with a smile.

Havoc stepped backwards in surprise and had to be stabilized by his pokemon. "What the-" he regained his footing a bit sloppily and shook off his stumble, "I've never seen a talking pokemon before! Your Zorua is amazing!"

Ed shrugged, "Well there's a first for everything, Al had never been tackled by a welcome committee before." Psyduck looked down in embarrassment.

"Right. Sorry, I was just surprised is all, let's get you all to East Command." Havoc pointed behind him.

"Sounds like a plan." Ed replied, grabbing his bags and following Havoc to his car.

Ed slid into the backseat, pulling in his luggage before patting the seat beside him, allowing Al and Eevee to hop in beside him.

Havoc began the drive in silence, though he hadn't liked the foot he'd started on with the kid. He felt kinda awkward in the car with him, he wanted to get along with everyone stationed around him and Edward was under Mustang as well.

An idea had taken root in his head, "You know what kid?"

Ed looked up, "Hmm?"

"You come from a pretty small town right?"

"Yea? So?" Ed looked out the window.

"We're already pretty damn late, so it wouldn't hurt much if we were a little later, I'll show you around the city a bit." he looked back to Ed, "How do ya feel about that?"

The boy shrugged, "Sure."

Al jumped up, "I'd love to see the city! But are you sure Colonel Mustang would be alright with it?"

Havoc let out a laugh, "I'm already incompetent enough that he'd expect this of me."

They drove to a building painted red and white, a sign above it with a pokeball painted on it and in big letters it was labeled as a "Pokemon Center".

"Ah so this is the Pokemon Center in the city." Ed acknowledged.

"Well, one of them, there's four in East City." Jean shrugged.

"FOUR!?" the brothers said in awe.

"We only have one in Resembool." Al explained, "Four is a lot in comparison I guess." they all stepped through the front door.

The place was quite crowded, there were some trainers that looked worried, speaking to the nurse at the counter. But most trainers seemed alright just casually relaxing at some tables with some food and drinks, pokemon beside them.

Ed, Al, and Eevee looked around in awe, "This place is a lot bigger than the one we are used to huh." Eevee nodded in response.

"Yea, there's so many people, and even a place to order food and drinks, I wonder if there's rooms to stay in upstairs like the one back home." Al pondered.

"Of course there is, all pokemon centers are required to have rooms for trainers to stay in, this one has around 16 rooms."

"Sixteen!?" the brothers once again seemed to be in awe.

"The one back home only has like four, and nurse Joy occupates one of them." Edward explained.

Havoc smirked, "Big city pokemon centers sure are something else huh?" the boys and Eevee nodded. "Another thing about this place is that it has some of the best lemonade around. They mix it with berry juice and it tastes delicious! Right Psyduck?!"

"Duc! Duc!" the Pokemon agreed, already beginning to waddle to the counter.

"Well, I guess we're getting lemonade." Havoc chucked a bit as he followed Psyduck in line, he turned to Ed, "Why don't you guys find us a table."

Al grinned, "On it!" he and Eevee sprang to the other side of the room, claiming a table. Edward followed behind. After around ten minutes, Havoc returned with drinks for everyone.

Ed took one sip and almost melted, "Holy shit this stuff is good."

Al sighed happily, "You can say that again."

"Ehhveh." Eevee hummed.

Jean grinned, "I was thinking that after this I could show you one more hot spot before we get to Mustang."

"That's cool with me." Ed took a nice, long sip of his drink.

"Agreed brother! I'd love to see more of the city!"

Havoc raised an eyebrow at Al's words but didn't comment, only continued to sip his drink.

Once the glasses were empty and they were slurping air in attempts to get the last bit out of the bottom of the cup, they set to leave the Pokemon Center.

The next location they didn't enter, but they did stop and take a look, it was a tall building with beautiful architecture. "That's East City's gym. Louis is the gym leader there, he works with Rock types."

"I've heard of gyms. They sound really cool! They're decorated true to their types, and each one is unique!" he turned to Ed, "Wouldn't it be cool to challenge a gym one day Ed?"

"Maybe, but that's not what we're focused on right now Al." he ruffled up his hair fluff.

"I know, I know brother." Havoc adopted a thoughtful look, there was that word again. It wasn't too uncommon for pokemon to see trainers as parents, he supposed that seeing a trainer as a brother wasn't too far from that.

"Alright!" Havoc announced, "Time to get to Eastern Command."

"Okay then, let's get moving." Ed crossed his arms behind his head.

"Ehvehh!" The small fox like pokemon agreed.

The command center wasn't too far from the gym and they were there within a few minutes. They got out of the car with their luggage before entering the building, it was bustling with business, people were all over and looked busy. Havoc lead them up a staircase which lead to some hallways which finally came to a door that had the name "Colonel Mustang" Labeled on it.

"Hey Havoc, just wanna say this." Ed began as Havok turned to him, "You're a pretty chill guy for someone in the military, I thought all you guys were pricks, even your pokemon. But, you are pretty cool," he leaned down, "Psyduck too." he stuck out a fist and Psyduck tried to meet it but was a couple inches off. The trainers and pokemon stood and stared for a moment before Ed moved his fist so it connected to Psyduck's outstretched flipper. "Yea!" Ed chuckled a bit.

Havoc chuckled at the action, "Well, here we are Major Elric." he opened the doors to reveal an irritated looking Mustang.

"You're several hours late." he crossed his arms.

"We missed our train, things happen. Deal with it." Ed waved him off.

"Well it better not happen often, you're in the military now kid, you need to be on time for things."

"We will, we will." Ed yawned, "Are we almost done? I'm exhausted and wanna get to my dorm already."

"Brother," Al urged, "Try to show some respect."

"What do ya mean that was plenty respectful?"

"What is your definition of respectful?"

"Ehveh, Vee, veh!"

Mustang stood, "I'll take you to your assigned dorm." he pulled some keys out of his desk and led them out of the room.

Upon arrival, the Resembool trio were amazed by the large number of rooms in the facility. Ed, with quick thinking, caught the keys Mustang tossed at him.

"That's your dorm, try to keep it as tidy as a twelve year old can. Don't trash it." Ed rolled his eyes and unlocked the door, swinging it open revealed a small area, part of it resembled a kitchen in the corner, it had cabinets and some counters. That lead to a living area of sorts, a small sofa stationed there. There were only two doors in there, one lead to a small bedroom with a bed and a dresser, enough for one person. The other lead to a bathroom which was also connected to the bedroom for convenience sake.

"Make yourself at home, report for duty at 0800 hours Fullmetal. Don't be late this time."

"Got it!" Edward called.

"See ya around Chief." Havoc waved.

"See ya Havoc!" The young alchemist nearly collapsed on the couch as the door closed. He felt really fucking tired.

"Are you even gonna unpack?" Al asked, hopping up onto the sofa with him.

"I dunno." Ed mumbled, "Really tired, ya know?"

Eevee hopped up too, "Eh, ev, eh."

Al sighed and poked Ed's face, "Eevee's right, you can't fall asleep just yet."

Ed turned over and moaned, "Why not?"

"You need to at least change into some pajamas and have some clean clothes in your dresser for tomorrow."

"Eh! Eveh!"

"Oh right! And Dinner!"

Ed peeked an eye open at the mention of food, "Alright I'll do it for food, but those cabinets are empty and I don't have the energy to go out."

"Ehveh! Eh!"

Ed lifted up his head, "Really Eevee? You'll go? This isn't like an errand in Resembool though." he sat up as Eevee moved into his lap, "This is a busy city and you could get lost or hurt."

"Don't worry brother!" Al flipped into his human disguise, "I'll go with her!"

Ed frowned, "That goes for you too Al."

Al's face scrunched up, "What? How come!?"

"It's still a very big city and something could happen! If you were hurt your disguise would break. People would question why a Zorua was walking around as a human."

"Honestly brother, we're just going to those food stands down the road we saw earlier. It's not a dangerous journey." Al's face was unamused.

"I just don't want anything bad to happen alright?" Ed huffed.

"Nothing bad is gonna happen, I promise."

"Eh!" Eevee agreed.

Ed sighed, giving in, "Alright then, here." he dug around in his bag and pulled out a small pouch, "Here's some cens, it should be more than enough." he dropped them into the pouch before pulling the strings tight, "Get back here soon, I'll unpack a bit while you're gone." he handed it to Al.

"Got it brother." Al took the pouch, "Let's go Eevee!"

The pokemon bounced with enthusiasm, "Ehveh!"

The two hurried out the door with food in mind, they got a whiff of the nice cool air as they stepped out onto the street.

"What were you thinking of to eat Eevee?" Al asked, looking towards the brown pokemon.

"Ehveh! Eh, ev Ev! Evehh!"

"Oh! Great idea! Some pasta sound great! I saw that stand too, they made them right there nice and hot!" he smiled, thinking about how great it would taste, "We could also get some cinnabuns for dessert! I saw a nice old lady selling them nearby!"

"Vee!" she jumped with glee.

"It's settled then." They soon reached the street lined with different people selling different goods and services.

They quickly found the noodle cart and stood in line, "It smells so good, I can't wait to get some of that stuff." he found himself blushing a bit as his stomach growled. He and Eevee giggled about it, they almost didn't realize the pouch of cens being snatched out of Al's hand.

He yelped in surprise and saw a dark pokemon running away with the pouch Ed had given him. "Hey! Get back here!" He and Eevee took to chasing the thief.

They met up with the Houndoom in an alleyway, it bared its teeth and growled at them. Both Al and Eevee winced at the move used.

Fire formed around the pokemon's mouth as it charged at Eevee, Al knocked her out of the way and got bitten instead. He cried out as his disguise vanished. The pokemon seemed surprised but shook it off quickly, launching towards them once more.

Eevee jumped in front of Al and used protect, knocking the offending pokemon backwards.

"Give those cens back!" Al demanded.

 _"They don't belong to you!"_ Eevee yelled.

 _"Well they're mine now, so back off!_ " She barked, lunging towards Eevee and using bite. She used swift in return and shot the stars at the dog like opponent, piercing her more intensely.

The houndoom let go and backed up a bit, she panted, steam coming out of her mouth. It began to heat up into fire fang again as she charged towards Al, who used Feint Attack, the force knocked them both downwards.

Eevee took the opportunity while Houndoom was down and snatched the pouch.

 _"No! Please!"_ she cried, _"I need it!"_

"Why do you need it, huh?" Al asked, stepping next to Eevee.

 _"I need to feed my pups, my houndour are starving."_ she looked behind her, and three young pokemon popped their heads out from behind some trash cans.

Al's angered eyes softened a bit, he turned around and took the pouch from Eevee, tying it around his neck. "Come on Eevee… let's go."

Eevee slowly turned and followed him out towards the street once again.

Al ran up to the Cinnabuns cart that thankfully, had no line, "Excuse me miss?"

The older woman jumped back, startled. Oh right, Al didn't have his disguise. "Sorry to scare you, but we'd like some of your cinnabuns." He poured some Cens out.

The woman shook off her shock a bit as she pulled out her desserts. "How many?"

"Fifteen." the woman nodded and placed them in a bag.

"Will that be it?"

"Actually," Al frowned, "Can I get eight in one bag and seven in another?"

"Alright little guy." she smiled pleasantly and handed one bag to Al, and the other to Eevee.

They both had the same thought in mind as they rushed back to the alleyway. The Houndoom took a defensive stance, but jumped back as a bag was tossed at her feet by Al.

"Here, for you, that should be enough for you and your pups."

The Houndoom smiled at them, _"Thank you."_

 _"Not an issue."_ Eevee chirped, _"You need it more than we do."_

The Houndoom nodded and opened the bag, ready to feed her pups.

Al and Eevee turned and headed back to the street, "Alright now we need to…" he looked towards the sky that had grown very dark. "Ah! Brother! We need to get back to brother!"

Eevee nodded and followed him, racing back towards the dorms.

Al gathered his energy and switched back into his human form before opening the door, Ed's head lifted up from the Sofa, "Oh! You're back, I was beginning to think something bad happened."

"Of course not brother." Al handed him the bag, Ed peered inside and frowned a bit.

"I'm not complaining or anything, but I'd think you'd disapprove of only having Cinnabuns for dinner." Ed chuckled.

Al froze up, he'd completely forgotten about the pasta plan, "Uh…"

Eevee hopped forwards, "Eh! Vee veh, Vee!"

"Yea," Al piped up, "You're in the same spot we left you, did you even start to unpack?" Al flipped back into his Zorua form, exhausted.

"You can't really blame me! I was tired, I'll do it after we eat." Ed took a big bite of a cinnabun.

"Sure brother. I'll make sure you get it done by then end of this week."

"Hey I'm not that incompetent!" Ed argued in defense.

"Ehveh!"

"Good plan, lets just eat ou dinner and get to bed." Al took a bite of his bun.

"Good plan Eevee," Ed took another bite, savoring the taste.

Once dinner was finished, Ed managed to change into his pajamas and fell into the welcoming bed. Al hopped up and cuddled up next to him, Eevee followed suit, curled up on the opposite side of her trainer.

"G'night guys, love you." Ed yawned.

"Love ya too brother."

"Eeh."

* * *

 **AA SHIT! I am so sorry! A lot has happened and I just stopped writing altogether for a bit. However I am happy to say updates should happen ore frequently now. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Be sure to leave me some feedback by a comment or a kudos! They really help push me forwards! Thanks for reading!**


	6. The Youswell Coward

**Edward, Alphonse, and Eevee inspect the Coal Mining Town of Youswell where there seems to be trouble afoot.**

* * *

"Are you fucking kidding me!?" Ed exclaimed irritably, "An inspection?! What about leads on the stone!?"

"Calm down fullmetal." Mustang frowned, "Watch your temper with your superiors. This is your first assignment and you are starting small. Just inspect the coal mines and get your report into me by the end of the week."

Ed huffed, "Fine, let's get this over with." He left the room swiftly.

"Oh come on brother, cheer up! It's only your first assignment! You could get a lead on the stone next time!" Al had a bit of a hop in his step.

Ed sighed, "Yeah, yeah, but if there isn't a lead to give us right now, why doesn't he just let me study in the giant archive of alchemic texts he allowed us access to!?" he gripped the paper with his orders on it. "It's a waste of time, why is it even al Alchemist's job to handle this bullshit?"

"Ehveh, Ee." the pokemon lightly tutted.

Ed crossed his arms and began to grumble, "I'm not being that difficult."

With his bag packed, and his orders crumpled into a ball somewhere in a pocket he set off for the train station.

Rain splashed down on the trio as they ran to the window where the clerk told them that the only train heading for the town known as Youswell was leaving right that moment.

Ed, soaked to the bone, didn't like the sound of that. The three ran even faster than before to catch up to the train as it began to leave.

He jumped onto the train just as it was leaving, with Eevee and Al in tow. This train they were in seemed a bit different than the ones they had taken before. It seemed fancier and better kept, the seats were soft and cushiony, and it was warm and toasty.

Ed grinned at how nice it was and took off his coat, setting it on the seat beside him. He stretched out his legs in the extensive leg room he had.

Al and Eevee sat across from him, they all began to relax in the warm passenger car as a woman dressed in professional clothing approached them.

"Excuse me young man?"

Ed glanced up at her, "What is it ma'am?"

She frowned, "Pokemon must be kept in their pokeballs at all times, it's the policy here."

Ed sat up, "That's not a rule on any other train." Ed argued.

She crossed her arms, "In case you havent noticed, this isn't just any other train. It's a new train with new technology and we'd like to keep it well kept."

"Humans are just as messy as pokemon, why don't they contain humans too!?"

"Young man, please-"

"Don't 'young man' me! My pokemon are perfectly fine!" he wouldn't force Al into a pokeball for such a stupid reason.

"I can't make exceptions for you, if I did that, then I'd asked to do that by everyone else on the train, please."

Ed pulled out Eevee's pokeball in defeat and called her into it. He looked at her grumpily, "There."

The woman shook her head, "You still have one more pokemon out of its pokeball."

Ed gritted his teeth and glanced at Al who seemed very anxious. He was tempted to grab his watch and use his military privilege. Yet he also didn't want to seem like an asshole. An idea suddenly sprang into his head.

If he couldn't use military privilege, then he'd use another kind of privilege. She had been calling him 'young man' after all.

Ed held Al tight, and sounded as sad as he possibly could, "P-please ma'am, Al can't go in his pokeball." he looked up to her, doing his best attempt at baby doll eyes.

"It's-"

"Please, this pokemon is my emotional support." he held Al close to him, "He's all I have, I get, so-so lonely without him." he pretended to sob into Al's fluffy neck. The golden eyed pokemon played along, patting Ed's back and nuzzling into him.

The woman who seemed to be holding in a breath released it in defeat, "Alright, but he better not make any messes or cause a ruckus."

Al let go of Ed, "Please ma'am I'm very well behaved, you should be more worried about him." Al pointed to his brother.

The lady blinked in surprise and sighed, no longer having the energy to deal with that and let them be.

Once she had left the car Al hopped onto Ed's lap, "Thanks brother, I can't stay in my disguise long enough to last a whole train ride."

"No problem Al," he scruffed up the fluffy fur on his brother's head. "Let's enjoy the rest of this comfy train ride." He relaxed again, stretching out his legs and making himself comfortable. Al had curled up under Ed's coat, using it as an effective blanket. They both dozed off to the sound of rain pattering on the windows.

Ed woke a few hours later as the train came to an abrupt stop, he glanced outside to see a dark, sleepy looking town. In front of it was a sign reading "Youswell". He shook the Zorua beside him awake, "Hey Al, we're here."

Al stretched out and yawned before hopping off the bench, "Alright brother, let's get to work." Ed slid his coat back on as he stepped off.

He stuck his hands on his hips and looked around, "Alright, what now." he turned to Al.

"Don't look at me. Check the orders Mustang gave you."

Ed dug out the paper and attempted to straighten it out as much as he could, "I dunno Al, it doesn't say anywhere what exactly to do here."

"Maybe it's too crinkled up to read properly." Al uttered to himself.

"I've got no clue where to sta-AACK!" Ed looked up to see a young boy, around maybe Al's age holding a big wooden plank that probably had his blood on it, a Bponsly stood behind him. "Jeez, watch where you swing-"

"Sorry!" the kid interrupted, "Hey you don't look familiar,.WOAH! Are you guys tourists!?"

"Uh…" Ed trailed off.

The boy, not giving Ed a chance to speak jumped up and down, calling to a man working up on a platform above them, "Pop! We've got visitors!"

"Bon! Bonsly!"

The man looked down, "Hm?" the Sudowoodo next to him peered down as well.

"Cash Miltank!" The boy pointed to the brothers.

"Oh! Hello!" the man smiled to them, "You can call me Halling, we run the Pokemon Center around here! We'll take good care of you and your pokemon!"

The boys followed the young boy who had introduced himself as Kyle to the small building. They entered it and found that it was smaller than even the place in Resembool.

Ed noticed that the lady at the counter was definitely not Nurse Joy, "So Nurse Joy doesn't work at this pokemon center." Ed was a bit surprised.

"Yeah," Kyle exclaimed, "That's my mom, we used to have Nurse Joy here, mom was her apprentice, but Nurse Joy had to leave when the town was put under new management."

Kyle's mother offered a warm smile, "Would you like to rest up your pokemon?"

Ed grinned, "Sure, I don't see why not." he sent Eevee out next to Al.

"Anything else you need while you're here?" she asked pleasantly.

"Oh yea, I'm gonna need a room to stay in for one night."

She wrote it down on a small piece of paper, "Alright, that'll come out to about, 300,000 cens."

"WHAT!?" Ed's mouth dropped open, "That's ridiculous! All that for a damn room!?"

"Oh no of course not," the woman help up the paper, "See? 100,000 of that is for healing your pokemon."

Ed clenched his fists, "What kind of pokemon center charges for people to get their pokemon healed!?"

Halling chuckled from across the room, passing a couple drinks to some of his coworkers, "We ain't the cheapest pokemon center around."

"And we're the only one around too!" Kyle added with a snarky grin.

"Lee lee!" the bonsly called out.

Ed looked a bit defeated as he pulled out his wallet and leaned down to Al, "Damn it, even we can't afford that. Looks like we're gonna have to find another way to pay up."

"How are we gonna do that?" Al asked.

"I've got an idea."

"Ehveh?"

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna break the law or anything."

He stood up and looked Halling in the eyes, "Listen, I can't really afford that, but there is another way I can pay up. Ya see, I'm an Alchemist, got anything broken that needs fixing?"

"Well, my pickaxe isn't in the best shape." Halling tapped his chin.

"Bring it over here!" Ed flashed a grin. The pickaxe wasn't in the best shape, it appeared like the wood handle was weakening and it was about to snap in half.

"Sorry if its too much for ya kid." Halling shrugged.

Ed chuckled, "Nah, this stuff is child's play!" he clapped his hands and strengthened the wooden handle, making it a bit shorter but thicker.

Everyone in the room stared in awe as Ed clapped his hands again, "What else needs fixing?!"

Before long there was a line of people with broken items in need of repair.

"Don't worry! Brother can fix anything!"

A loud gasp came from Kyle at the words, "Wow! A talking pokemon! This kid is so cool!" he turned to the Eevee and got real close to her face, "Can this one speak too?!"

"Eh?" Eevee took a step back.

Ed chuckled a bit, "No, only Al can talk." Item after item was fixed as light conversation was tossed around the room.

"So," Halling began, "What's an alchemist like you doing around here? There's not much to do in this town anyhow. There aren't even many pokemon here for a trainer on a journey."

"Oh no," Ed replied pleasantly, "I'm not on a journey, I mean I am but just not a pokemon journey."

"Then why are you here?"

"I'm here to inspect the mines, I'm a state alchemist." suddenly the light chatter in the room stopped abruptly, all at once.

Ed smiled anxiously, he opened his mouth to ask something but he was lifted by his shirt before any words could get out. He struggled and scrambled before he found himself launched towards the ground by Sudowoodo's rock throw. His luggage, Al, and Eevee followed, landing on top of Ed.

The blonde boy groaned, "Hey what was that for?" he rubbed his aching head as his pokemon helped him up.

Halling had an angry look on his face, "We don't need any military dogs in my pokemon center."

Kyle peeked his head out, "Yea! All they do is lie and cheat you! They're the reason our town is so damn poor! Stay out!"

"Bonsly!"

Ed rubbed his head with a grumble, "Well this sucks."

"Ehveh!" Eevee pushed her head up against Ed with concern.

"I'm alright Eevee, its just a rock throw." He chuckled.

"We'll have to spend the night outside then, come on guys." he began to walk away with his pokemon when a group of men became visible as they headed towards the Pokemon Center. They were dressed in military uniform and had two Breloom with them.

They entered the building pompously and the trio found it in themselves to peek through the window.

A tall, skinny man seemed to be the leader, "Ah Halling, your place looks as filthy as ever."

"Get out of here Yoki, you aren't wanted." Halling turned away.

"I'm here on regards of your taxes, they're just as late as everyone else's." he crossed his arms with a smirk.

"We wouldn't be so late if you made it possible to pay them. You can't just lower wages and raise our taxes, it's impossible to afford." he clenched a fist.

"You may just have to work a little bit harder to meet my simple expectations. This place may have to shut down soon, I never saw the point of pokemon centers anyhow."

"We already break our backs enough!" Kyle shouted, "Bonsly! Rock throw!"

"Bon!" The pokemon shot the move at Yoki, knocking him backwards.

"How dare you! You little rat! You're just as bad as your father!" He turned to the man on his right, "Use your pokemon to keep the brat's thing busy! Then teach that kid a lesson!"

The man smirked and nodded, "Breloom, use mach punch!"

The grass type charged towards the pokemon, "Breeeehloom!"

His trainer drew his sword, "Now you, need to be taught a bit of a lesson brat!" The man swung his sword down but it collided with something, a sharp metal clang sounding through the room.

"Ehvee!"

The man stepped back, "Huh?"

Ed smirked his metal arm was blocking the sword with skill, and Eevee's swift had knocked the Breloom to the ground, "I'm here to inspect this place," he showed off his pocket watch to the leader. The man went right to work on kissing up to Ed. "Oh my! A state alchemist! I'm so honored to have you visiting my town! I deeply apologize for the behavior of the citizens around here, why don't we go somewhere a bit more civilized to continue talking hmm?" he clasped his hands together, "You must be starving!"

Ed smiled, "Yea, my team and I are pretty hungry." Eevee jumped into his arms and Al stepped in front of his brother.

"Yes, yes of course." Yoki turned around, "We can have a nice little chat over dinner! What do you say?"

"Sounds great." Ed scratched under Eevee's chin.

* * *

"I hope you enjoy this fine cuisine!" Ed sat at the end of a long table, Yoki at the other end. Eevee and Al remained sitting on the floor.

Ed raised an eyebrow, "Aren't you gonna feed my pokemon? They need to eat too."

"Yes, sure, here." he tuned to a maid, "Go grab some kibble that the breloom usually eat." Eevee sighed, kibble wasn't so bad but it was very generic and unappetizing than other foods made specifically to pokemon's tastes.

Two bowls were placed in front of Al and Eevee, they were filled with kibble that smelled as if it had been left out in the sun for too long.

Al took a hesitant bite and made a face, he usually wasn't one to complain but, "This is really stale."

"My goodness he can speak! But what else to expect of your pokemon Major." his kissass levels raised even higher.

Ed exhaled harshly through his nostrils, "So they're just gonna eat that?"

"They're just pokemon Major Elric, they'll eat anything. I don't own any myself, but I know enough about them to know I don't want one."

Ed frowned, "I see." He picked at his food, "You sure have a lot of nice things for a town that's so run down."

"Well I can't live like those people down there, they are so lazy they can hardly afford to live around here." he took a sip of his drink.

"Well to me at least." Ed picked up his plate and placed it in front of the pokemon on the floor, giving them a better meal to eat. "I think that they should be paid enough to be able to afford their taxes, they're giving a lot but not getting anywhere close to equal back. Alchemists work on the ideals of equivalent exchange you know." He pet Al on the head.

"Yes, Equivalent exchange, what a lovely principle. I have an equivalent exchange for you myself." the maid set a bag filled with many cens in front of Ed.

"Is this a bribe Lieutenant Yoki?"

"Just an exchange." he smiled.

Ed pursed his lips, I don't know I need to think about it, "May I have a moment alone?"

"Oh of course!" Yoki abandoned his seat and walked out the oversized door behind him, his maid and men following him out.

Ed turned to his pokemon, "Damn this dude is a giant fucking asshole."

"What are we gonna do?" Al asked, "There's no way we are taking that stupid bribe."

"Of course not." Ed sat cross legged, resting his chin on his fist.

"Ehveh! Veh!" Eevee added.

"True," Al turned to her, "He is a human trash bin." Al chuckled, "His mustache looks like someone took a marker and drew two checkmarks on his face."

Ed choked on a laugh, "Holy shit that's true."

"Eh!"

"We're focusing." both brothers said together.

"Well, he does like bribes. Let's see how well we can play his game." Ed smirked.

"What are you getting at brother?" Al sounded suspicious.

"Well, I'm gonna need your help for this one Al. You know how this is a coal mining town?"

* * *

"You want to buy Youswell!?" Yoki was surprised.

"Yea! Turns out there's lotsa stuff in your mines that can be exploited alchemically!"

"I apologize Major, but I'm afraid it is not for sale, I just love it too much to part with it." Yoki clasped his hands together.

"Awe, what a shame," Edward opened the doors behind him to reveal stack upon stacks of golden bricks. "I guess I lugged this all up here for nothing."

"Now don't be hasty major!" Yoki yelped, "You see, it would still look quite suspicious, where all this money came from."

"Well it can be between just the two of us! You can give me a statement saying that you handed this place over to me free of charge, that should settle it. Nobody else will ever have to know about the money." Edward offered.

Yoki was practically drooling at the sight of all the money before him, "Done deal Major!" The deed was handed to Edward along with the official statement.

"Bye Lieutenant Yoki!" Ed called, walking out the door as the checkmark man packed up his prize.

As he and his men hit the high road Yoki celebrated, "Finally! To escaping that trashy town! And onto bigger and better things!"

He and his men cheered as Yoki took a glance back to where his gold was stored, only to double take.

"STOP THE DAMN CAR!"

The next time he caught eye of Edward elric, he was shoving a chicken leg in his mouth at the Pokemon Center.

"Give me my deed back Elric! All that gold turned into coal shaped like gold!"

The Zorua snickered and uttered, "Guess the illusion broke."

"What gold?" Edward cocked his head to the side in innocence.

"The gold you gave me in exchange for the town!"

"But, Lieutenant Yoki," he played innocent, "This statement here says you gave the town over to me, free of charge." he took another bite of his food.

"I didn't-arg!" he clenched his fists and his mustache twitched in anger, "Give me back that deed!"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't if I wanted to." he gestured to Halling holding up the deed.

"Wh-"

"What did you expect when you gave a town to a twelve year old?" Ed laughed, "I never really got to eat, and the meals here aint cheap, that deed of yours seemed to cover it."

"That's the last straw! One of you! Use your damn pokemon and-"

"We're a bit tied up here boss…" They were surrounded by several men with bodies built from coal mining, as well as their angry rock type pokemon.

Before he knew it Yoki was alone and sent running out of town with not even his dignity left intact.

After Ed's meal and mission was complete, Halling thanked him, "You've done something amazing for us, we could never really repay you."

"No thanks necessary!" Ed grinned "It's what I do, that man was a living trash can."

Halling laughed, "Here, I have something for you before you go." he handed a disk to Ed. "This is a Technical Machine, TM for short, place it into your pokedex and it'll help teach your pokemon a move. This one here teaches the move return."

Ed too the disk and stuck it in the pokedex, "Return: A full-power attack that grows more powerful the more the user likes its Trainer."

Ed turned to Alphonse, "Hey, what do ya say we learn this attack and forget about Pursuit?" Ed smiled.

"Good plan!" Al laughed, "It'll be the first thing we work on when we get back!"

"Ehveeh!"

They were so excited they almost missed the train again.

* * *

 **A nice long chapter for you all! The next couple are real nice and long too! Remember I always appreciate Reviews! They give me the motivation to keep on writing! Thanks for reading!**


	7. The Bandit from Fisk

"There! All your pokemon are healed and battle ready! We hope to see you again!" the pink haired nurse offered a dazzling grin as Ed thanked her and took his leave.

"Let's get moving you two!" Ed rushed towards the door with Eevee and Al in pursuit.

"Right behind you brother!" Al was leaping with excitement.

"Ehveh!" she hopped beside her trainer.

"Our first stone lead! One step closer to getting us our bodies back!" he grinned enthusiastically.

"Eh ehvee, vee." Eevee rolled her eyes.

"Oh, right, Ed maybe we should be quieter about that." they looked around to see some passing people giving them odd looks.

Ed waved them off, "Eh, fuck em'." he dug around in his pocket for the slightly crumpled orders, "We're heading towards a town known as Fisk up north. It's a small town near the woods, things are going missing, and the usually docile wild pokemon have been a bit hostile lately. Either that or they're very fearful." he sloppily folded it up and shoved it back in his pocket. "Mustang thinks it could have something to do with a certain stone we're looking for." Ed tapped the crumpled papers, "The philosopher's stone is said to have that kind of effect of pokemon."

"That is really odd, they were docile and calm before?" Al mused.

"Mmhm." They arrived at the station and sat down, "We don't have too much information so we'd have to do some investigating." he exhaled in anticipation, "I think this could be a really great start for the three of us!"

"Eh! Veh!"

"Definitely!"

It didn't take long for the train to arrive and they boarded eagerly, though their eagerness didn't last long.

Ed pursed his lips as he rolled the dice, the bumping train causing them to wobble a bit. "Ha!" he shouted, "I rolled a twelve!"

Al huffed, "You won again! This is the eighth time brother." the Zorua scowled.

Ed dropped his last card down on the table between them, "Oh come on, don't be a sore loser Al." he pulled the snacks laid out on the table over to his side, "How about another round?"

"Eh, veh eh." Eevee looked unimpressed.

"How the hell would I be cheating!?-"

He was interrupted by a woman walking through the door of the passenger car, "Next stop Aszamem, and after that, Letuto." Ed glanced at his map, that didn't seem right…

"Excuse me ma'am," the woman about to take her leave turned to him, "Doesn't this train stop at Fisk?"

The woman looked a bit confused, "Fisk… I'm not sure I've heard of that."

Ed raised a suspicious eyebrow, "This is the only train heading in its direction." He pulled out his map and pointed to it. "See?"

She blinked, "Oh! That town doesn't have a stop there, you'd have to get off next and find another way there."

Ed's mouth dropped open, "You're kidding me right?!"

"Sorry sir, but there's nothing I can do." She exited quickly, avoiding any more conversation.

The Alchemist crossed his arms and leaned back, sliding down in his seat, "Damnit! The guy at the station said this train would take us to Fisk!"

"Don't get so upset brother, he must have meant that this is the only train in the direction of Fisk. Maybe it isn't as far as it looks on the map." Al offered, crossing over to his side.

"Hopefully." Ed sighed.

"Ehveh…" Eevee agreed.

They found life disappointing them once again at the train station.

The lady said it with such a bright fucking grin too.

"It's about 20 miles away, it should take around six and a half hours without a break."

Ed, Eevee, and Al's faces were the least enthusiastic things that woman had probably ever seen.

"Well shit." Ed groaned, "Of course the bastard would send us to a place we can't get to by train!"

"Eh! Ehveh."

"What are you talking about!? Of course he planned this from the start!" Ed ranted, "I can see him now, smirking, probably brushing his fennekin or his rapidash with that shit eating grin he's always got."

"Come on brother," Al began, exasperated, "Let's gear up at the pokemon center…"

"I bet he's thinking about us right now, laughing at how far we have to walk to get our job done! Colonel Bastard!" Ed stomped away as Eevee and Al shared a look.

It was a very long walk to the pokemon center…

Ed bought plenty of berries, potions, and a couple pokeballs just in case he needed one for the trip before the trio headed out on a very, very long walk.

The afternoon turned to evening, and the evening turned what Ed described as 'It's pitch black, I can't fucking see' so they considered stopping to camp for the night.

"We don't know how far town is brother, maybe stopping is a good idea." Al mused, taking a seat and dropping his exhausted human disguise.

"Ehhvehh." The brown pokemon agreed, taking a seat next to the Zorua.

"Alright then." Ed stretched, "I have no clue what time it is and my limbs hurt so we can rest until morning." he stretched out.

"What about your Pocket watch brother?" Al asked, tilting his head.

Ed seemed to freeze up, "Er-it's, its too dark to read it, it doesn't matter what the exact time is anyways." he made a show out of yawning. "I'm so tired, we should all get some rest so we can be awake and alert for this lead tomorrow." Ed sat down and opened up his pack, taking out his sleeping bag and rolling it out.

Al shrugged off Ed's demeanor as exhaustion and found himself yawning as well. Ed set his pack to the side in a way so the berries wouldn't be crushed before snuggling into the warmth of the bag. "Hey, its kinda cold tonight, and there's not enough room for both of you in here… Eevee, return for the night." he called the pokemon back to her ball and rolled it over to Al. "Put that in the bag to keep warm, okay?"

Al nodded and did so before hopping over and crawling in as well, cuddling up to his brother. Ed exhaled in a content manner and hugged Al close, "G'night Al. Love ya."

"Goodnight brother, I love you too." Al snuggled closer and closed his eyes as he drifted off alongside his brother.

Ed shifted in his sleep as sounds invaded his dreams, why did the sharpedo he was battling sound so crunchy? And why did that trainer's words sound like a zipper being opened?

Ed groggily sat up and squinted as the light of sunrise burned into his corneas. Ah, the beauty of nature. He turned to the source of the sounds and froze at what he saw.

Before him, a blue figure with oran berry juice dripping from its mouth, was a wild pokemon. A wild pokemon that _was stealing from them._

Ed hopped up, "H-hey! Stop that!" the pokemon's eyes widened as it stuffed the rest of the berry in its mouth, before grabbing the bag and dashing away.

Ed was so tired he couldn't even register he wasn't all the way out of the sleeping bag yet. "Get back here you little-" his feet were caught in the sleeping bag and he landed flat on his face, and right on top of Al.

"Brother what the heck?" Al squeezed out from under him, "I was sleeping." he rubbed his tired eyes.

"That little bandit stole our bag!" he crawled out and looked around angrily, but the pokemon was nowhere to be seen.

"Bandit?" Al asked, still not totally awake.

"Yea! Wake up Al! he was eating our berries! Then he went and took the whole damn thing when I woke up! All of our berries, potions, and water bottles are gone, not to mention-" he choked a bit upon the realization, "EEVEE WAS IN THERE! FUCK!"

Al woke up at that, "Eevee!? We've gotta get her back! What did the pokemon look like!?"

Ed snorted, "It looked exactly like the thief it was! Mischievous red eyes! It was blue, and stood on two legs! It even looked like it had a mask!"

"Wow… that sounds like a stereotypical thief description…" Al trailed off. "Which way did it go?" Ed looked around, noticing some berries had fallen to the ground near some trees.

He smirked and pointed in the direction the pokemon went, "That way! Come on!"

Al raced in the direction Ed pointed to, "I'll try to sniff our bag or Eevee out!"

They ran blindly relying on Al's nose until they found themselves a bit confused as to where they were. "Got a scent Al?" Ed asked, hopeful.

Al seemed a bit sheepish, "Well, not really… I smell something but it's that way." Al pointed a different direction, "Maybe it changed directions to confuse us? I smell berries."

"It's the best we've got." Ed agreed, before racing where Al directed. They ran quickly, and failed to notice that they'd left the forest until it was too late.

The poor old woman hadn't even seen them coming.

"Oh! My pecha berries!"

Ed rubbed his head, "S-sorry ma'am, we were in such a rush, we didn't even see you."

"Oh it's quite alright." the old woman laughed warmly, "Where were you boys off to in such a hurry?"

"A little bandit stole my bag! It had all my stuff and one of my pokemon in it!" Ed grit his teeth.

"Oh goodness." The woman frowned, "Well I don't know about your pokemon, but I know someone in town who can help you get some of your things back. He sells almost everything! He makes it with alchemy so he should be able to get your things back." she pointed over to a house near the end of the road, "He lives right there."

The woman began to pick up her berries as Ed leaned don to help her, "Alchemy huh? Are there any other alchemists around here?"

The woman pursed her lips, "Nope, he's the only one I have seen here in my lifetime, and thankfully so that he's showed up, he's been a lifesaver with all the thievery going about lately."

"Thanks ma'am." Ed waved goodbye to her as he looked towards Al, "That guy has probably been making a name for himself, wonder where he gets all his materials. Not to mention that he's the only alchemist around here…" Ed trailed off.

The Zorua looked up at him, "Are you saying this could be?"

"Yea," Ed smirked, "The philosopher's stone."

They both rushed to the house at the end of the street and knocked on the door three times. A man with long black hair tied back in a ponytail opened the door, "Hello?" they could see a pink pokemon sleeping on a pillow behind him.

"Excuse me? A lady selling some berries told us you have a large assortment of products for sale that you create with alchemy?" Al asked.

The man seemed surprised but quickly brushed it off, "Oh! Of course! You can call me Darrel. Come around back! That's where my merchandise is!"

He lead them around his house to a small area out back, it was well stocked with different types of berries, potions, and even some clothing items.

Ed attempted to approach the topic casually, "You sure do have a lot of berries… where do you grow all of them?" he looked around, "I don't see any place for them to grow."

The man grinned, "I make everything I sell with Alchemy actually. I just transmute whatever's around there's plenty of dirt around here, you know."

Ed refrained from rolling his eyes, because that sure as hell wasn't suspicious at all. "Oh really?" Ed looked at Al with a grin, "I'm quite amazed really, in all my years of transmuting I have never been able to transmute anything like berries with something like dirt."

The man seemed to freeze up under Ed's glare. "I have quite some skills young man. I've been studying it for years."

"I'm quite familiar with it myself." Ed flashed his silver pocket watch.

The man's eyes almost seemed to say "Oh shit." as he backed up.

"Care to tell me where you got those berries again?"

The man suddenly let out a loud yell, causing Ed and the Zorua to cover their ears, "THIEVES! THIEVES! COMING TO STEAL MY PRECIOUS MERCHANDISE I'VE WORKED SO HARD FOR!" the attention of others in the small town was quickly captured.

People came flooding into the backyard, bickering and yelling with anger. Two men dressed in police uniforms came and lifted Ed up, another snatched up Al.

"H-hey what the hell!?"

"We don't need any more thieves in this town! We already have enough trouble with our things being taken! We don't need anyone stealing from the only guy who can give stuff back to us!"

"But we didn't steal anything!" he dug into his pocket, "Look! I'm a state alchemist!" he presented his watch.

"Bet cha' stole that too, what are ya? Eight?"

Ed puffed up his cheeks in anger, "I'm twelve and a half so shut the fuck up!"

"Please! Listen!" Ed and Al were dragged out of the small town and dumped into the wooded area beside it as their words were ignored.

"Well that didn't go too well." Ed crossed his arms, "There's no denying it now, that guy definitely has a stone."

"Well there's not much we can do about it now." Al sighed, "Maybe we should wait till things cool off."

Ed nodded, "Good idea-LOOK!" he pointed ahead towards a small blue blur, running away.

"Brother what-"

"There's that little thief! Let's get him Al!" They raced after the pokemon but lost sight of him after he disappeared into a clearing. Ed stomped his foot, "Damnit! It was right here!"

"We might never find Eevee." Al sighed, about to give up hope when a loud angry voice rang out.

"EHVEH! EE! EH! VEE! VEH!"

The sound came from what seemed to be the hollow base of a tree. Al peeked under there to see a very angry Eevee yelling at her abductor.

The pokemon was just as Ed described, but it looked scared, now, taking steps back from the opposing pokemon.

"Eevee!" Al cried with happiness.

"Eh!" she leaped over to Al and gave him a nuzzle. " Veh! Ee!"

"Yea, let's get our stuff back!" Al snatched up the pack in his mouth, attempting to pull it out of the den, but the blue pokemon resisted. It tugged the bag back towards it in panicked motions.

"Ehveh!" The brown pokemon aided Al in his endeavors and helped him pull. Eventually they ended up pulling the other pokemon out of his hiding spot.

"Gotcha!" Ed yelled triumphantly, "Didn't I tell ya Al? A bandit! It's got the mask and everything." The pokemon gritted its teeth and growled in response, refusing to let go of the bag.

"Let go already!" Al pulled harder as Ed joined to help, the pokedex fell out of the bag from all the tossing around. The trio was about to get the bag back but then, another force ripped the bag from them.

A tall pink pokemon laughed a bit as it held the bag out of everyone's reach.

"H-hey! Give that back!" Ed yelled.

The black and blue pokemon leaped up with a cry, it seemed very distressed, "Rii! Riiio! Lu lu!"

The other pokemon smirked and stood up tall against the much smaller pokemon attempted to use what looked like a sloppy force palm. In return, the taller pokemon smirked in an almost evil way and, well… it was hardot describe. It was definitely a pokemon move but it just basically beat the shit out of the poor thing.

Ed frowned, "What the fu-" he held up the pokedex to the tall pokemon, "Granbull, the Fairy Pokémon. Granbull has extreme biting power due to its heavily muscled jaw and its strong teeth and tusks." he scrolled down in the entry to see what moves it could potentially learn. He nudged Al, "I think that was Play Rough."

The blue pokemon fell to the ground as the pink pokemon fled the scene with the prize on its back.

Ed approached the pokemon laying there and held up the pokedex, "Riolu, the Emanation Pokémon. Riolu has the power to see and understand emotions like happiness and anger in aura waves." he lowered the dex and stuck it in his pocket.

Ed frowned, "It isn't looking too good." the pokemon was very beat up and was in desperate need of medical attention.

"We can't just go to a pokemon center, they may not let us in after what happened in town." Al offered up a point.

"Eh! Veh vee!"

"Good idea Eevee!" Ed grinned and turned to Al, "While she's getting those, why don't you look for some Sitrus Berries in case Eevee can't find any Oran Berries." Al nodded and got to searching.

He felt a bit bad for shouting at the Riolu as he looked down at its pained face, even though it did steal from them.

It wasn't long before Eevee returned with a couple Oran berries she had managed to gather, there weren't many berries around to choose from.

Ed held the berry up to the Riolu's nose, the pokemon sniffed it a couple times and cracked its eyes open. In its view was Ed's concerned face holding a berry out to it, Riolu, realizing its situation quickly snatched the berry and scurried out of Ed's arms, shoving the berry in its mouth.

"H-hey calm down! We wanna talk to you!"

The pokemon turned away with a grunt, crossing its arms.

"Please, we just wanna know what's going on, did you know that Granbull?" Al asked.

"Ri! Rio! Lu lu!"

"Wh- hey there's no need to use those wor-"

"Lu! Lio! Ri lu!"

"Oh… I see." Al sat down, looking a bit sad.

"Eh? Veh?" Eevee approached the Riolu.

"Ri!" tears welled up in the pokemon's red eyes, "Rio! Lu Rilu!" the pokemon sat on the ground as it began to cry.

"You're right… nobody deserves that." Al frowned and turned to his brother, "Riolu is a very young pokemon, he's still a baby. He didn't want to steal from us but he had to. Whenever he gathers what little food he can find around here, that Granbull shows up and bullies it out of him! She does it to all the pokemon in this forest!"

"Riolu? Why don't you fight back?" Ed asked.

"RI!" the blue pokemon bared his teeth.

"Riolu tries to, but he's not strong enough." Al tapped his chin, "You saw him try to use force palm earlier." the pokemon looked embarrassed at Al's words.

Ed bit his lip, "Damnit, this is a situation huh." he groaned and leaned down to get eye level with the Riolu, "Listen, I came here to investigate why the pokemon around here were so hostile, and I hadn't a doubt in my mind you were an example of it when you took my bag." the pokemon looked down. "But, I see now that things are a bit different than I thought. The pokemon around here are stealing things to eat huh?" the pokemon nodded slowly. Ed exhaled, "Alright, I believe you. And we can't just let that pokemon keep on taking everything, do you know where it lives?"

The Riolu seemed to ponder the question before nodding and pointing in a direction.

"Perfect! Let's go teach that Gran-"

"Ri!"

"Huh?" the Riolu latched onto Ed's coat, shaking his head. "What's wrong?"

"He doesn't want us to go, he says Granbull is too strong brother, that did look like a very powerful move…" Al trailed off in anxiety.

"Well then. We'll just have to train." Ed decided. "Let's get to work and show that Granbull who's boss!"

"Ri! Lu lu!" The pokemon tugged on Ed's coat.

"Ehveh! Eh!"

"You really wanna train with us?" Al asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Lu!" The pokemon cried decisively.

"Alright then! We can do it together! We'll help you get all our stuff back!" Al held out his paw and Riolu met it with his own.

"Ri!"

Eevee added her own paw, "Eh!"

"Alright then! Let's start training." Ed added a metal fist to the mix.

"EE! VEH!" Sharp stars shot out and stuck deep into a tree, causing it to shake before some startled fletchling flew away.

"Nice swift Eevee!" Al complimented, gearing up to use scratch on another tree, causing a few pinecones to hit him on the head.

"Maybe we shouldn't aim for trees." Ed suggested, seeing the results of their efforts.

"Good idea brother." Al shook off the little injury.

Ed turned his attention to the other pokemon, "How are you doing Riolu?" he looked to see the pokemon not doing much, just standing and staring at a rock. "Come on, at least try something?"

"Lu?"

"Yea! Go ahead and try using force palm." Ed pointed at the rock.

The Riolu nodded and moved his palm back, a bit of power activated in it but diminished as he pushed it forwards, effectively crushing his poor paw on the rock.

Riolu whined and stuck its injured paw in its mouth in an attempt to nurse it. Ed winced, offering him an Oran berry.

The pokemon accepted, taking a small bite. He seemed embarrassed.

"Do you wanna try again?" Ed kneeled down to eye level.

The Riolu sniffed and shook his head. "Ri…"

"You messed up one time, but that's just a reason to improve! The more you try the better you get. It's how we all grow stronger." Ed stood, "Now we can try it again, and I'll give you a couple tips."

The pokemon hesitantly nodded and took his position. "Now," Ed began, "I've noticed that when you start that forcepalm, it has a lot of power, but you don't maintain it when you push it outwards, so you end up the one getting hurt. You build up so much in the beginning that you try to keep it going. Work on that." he pointed to the rock.

Riolu hesitantly drew his arm back, building up his power, and focused on maintaining it. "Go ahead! You can do it!" ith Ed's words he shoved his paw forwards and was shocked to see the rock break in half.

"You did it! I'm so proud of you!" Ed smiled brightly as he pet Riolu on the head. The blue pokemon seemed surprised but leaned in and nuzzled Ed's hand in return.

"That was awesome!" Al congratulated.

"Vee! Veh!" Eevee agreed.

Riolu smiled at the pride directed at him, "Ri! Lu li!"

"You wanna try again!?" Ed asked enthusiastically.

"Ri!" Riolu jumped in excitement.

"Okay! Force palm one more time!"

"Ruu Li!"

That night found the three of them heading in the direction Riolu lead them. They were surprised however to find themselves back in town.

"Wait the Granbull lives-" Al gasped as he saw where the Riolu was leading them, "It's that same house!"

"That's where Darrel lives. Do you think?" gears began turning in Ed's head, "Shit things might make some sense now." Ed began to run towards the house.

"Brother! Slow down! Where are we going!?"

"We're gonna break into that dipshit's house!" he laughed a little.

"Ri!" Riolu cheered.

"Brother! That's illegal!" Al caught up to Ed's pace.

"Veh!" Eevee scolded.

"Does it look like I care?" Ed ran out back and tested the windows, locked. He jiggled the door, locked too. He looked down to see a pokemon door that was big enough for them to fit through swing with the breeze.

Ed crouched down and crawled through the door, followed by Riolu, Al, and Eevee. They snuck around as quietly as possible, looking around at all the miscellaneous junk he had lying around.

Ed smirked as he spotted a door cracked open, loud snoring could be heard from the other side. "This way." he whispered.

The three pokemon followed behind him, seeing the man fast asleep, "Look." Al pointed over to where a familiar bag sat beside the bed.

Ed smirked, "Bingo." Eevee hopped over to the bag and pulled it over to Ed as quietly as possible. "Thanks Eevee, but there's still some business to do. We can't just keep letting this guy do this."

"We should get out of here…" Al trailed off, "If he wakes up he'll call the cops again."

"True we've gotta figure out another plan." Ed looked up in thought, tapping his chin before an idea hit him. He took off his coat and tossed it on top of a pile of clothes where Darrel would be sure to see it.

"Brother what-"

"Our plan begins tomorrow Al, but for now let's get out of here."

The next day found a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes wandering into town, looking upset.

She stopped a lady with a cart of berries to ask her a question, "Have you seen anyone with a red coat? I had it last night but, it disappeared. It's very special to me."

The woman frowned, "I'm afraid there's some thieves running amuc around here, but there's good news. A nice man who lives in that house down there can make you perfect replicas of any clothes you may have lost with alchemy! He's done it for many people in town!" she directed her to the house.

"Oh!" The girl smiled, "Than you ma'am!" she made her way to the place she was told to go.

Once arriving at the house, she knocked on the door, "Excuse me?"

The door opened, "Yes?"

"I was told you were able to replace stolen items?" she looked hopeful.

"Yes." the man smiled, "With a price, what did you lose?"

"A red coat! It's very important to me, I just can't live without it. It has a symbol on the back." The man seemed to look up in thought as he tapped his chin, "Ah! I think I can do that! Wait out back with my other customers while I work my alchemical magic!"

The girl nodded and did as she was told. It wasn't long before the man came outside with the coat, "Ta da! Good as new! Freshly made!"

The girl grinned and grabbed the coat, "Wow! It's perfect!"

"As usual." Darrel smiled, "Now that will be six thousand cens-"

"You even had the symbol perfect! It's just the right color! How did you know what symbol to use sir?" she raised an eyebrow as the attention of others were caught.

Darrel cleared his throat, "Intuition?"

"Wow! It even had loose threads and tears exactly where they were!" the girl gasped in fake shock, "It's almost as if, you had it all along and just tried to sell it back to me." her voice went down to a deadpan.

"How dare you accuse me of that!?" the man yelled.

"How about we take a look inside your house then?" she asked, crossing her arms. The people nearby seemed skeptical themselves.

"My house is my business and you shouldn't-" Darrel found himself being pushed down by a force behind him.

"Wow! Look at all this stuff! Did anyone lose this?" Ed held up a fancy looking hat.

A man gasped, "My daughter's hat! I was about to ask him to make that for her!"

"Looks like we found the real thief here." Ed was passed a pile of stolen goods from Riolu, "Alright everyone! There's a going out of business sale! Everything that belongs to you is free!"

People trampled over Darrel as they rushed into the house, calling out in glee 'My shoes!' 'My clefairy plush!' 'My purse!'.

Ed laughed, "Bit off more than you can chew huh?" he high fived the girl.

The man let out a cry of anger, "You've ruined me! Granbull! Fire fang!" the girl was bit roughly with flames, causing her form to sizzle out into a Zorua.

"I should have known, you brat!" he pointed at the Zorua, "Headbutt!" The granbull rushed at Al, but was knocked backwards by Eevee's protect.

"Al! Scratch!" Al began to do the move, but something inside him told him to jump upwards. Al leaped up and yipped as a large dark ball of mass formed over him. He shot it towards the Granbull. "Woah!" Ed's eyes widened, a new move.

"I think that was shadow ball!" Al called.

"Well it was awesome!" Ed laughed, "Use shadow ball again!"

"Gotcha brother!" Al began to use the move when suddenly…

"Play rough with that Zorua!" no matter where he looked there was a fist or a foot coming at him. He couldn't avoid it. Before he could use his move he fell to the ground.

"Al!" Ed scooped him up and laid him on the side. "Eevee! Swift!" pointed stars shot out at Granbull, but the pokemon was still standing.

"Play rough with that Eevee!" It was unavoidable, and Eevee was soon on the ground too. Ed swallowed, it seemed like he just needed one more hit… but how?

Darrel smirked, "Now we just have to show that trainer what you're made of! Play rough one more time!" Ed winced and crossed his arms in front of him, only to never feel the blows.

He looked down to see the Riolu he'd befriended, crossing his arms with a red energy surrounding him. Ed blinked in shock, "You used Endure. Good job Riolu! One more Hit!"

The Riolu wasted no time in showing off his improved force palm. He knocked the Granbull backwards and cheered triumphantly as it fell to the ground.

"You did it Riolu!" Ed cheered as Riolu leaped into his arms.

Darrel almost fell backwards in shock, "What, how?"

"What is happening," Ed grabbed his arms and stuck them behind his back, "Is that you're getting arrested." he smirked, "How? Is that you were a fucking moron." Ed grabbed the man's wrists and restrained them as people flooded into the house behind him.

That night, the four of them were welcomed in the town, treated to a free meal and given a room to rest in the pokemon center.

"Goodnight, don't hesitate to ask if you need anything!" Nurse Joy chirped, closing the door.

Ed sighed happily, landing on the soft bed. "So soft and warm, when it's so cold outside."

"Ehveh!" Eevee curled up at the end of the bed.

"I agree, it's so comfy."

They sat in silence for a moment when Ed noticed Riolu looking a bit awkward in the corner of the room.

"Hey what's wrong Riolu?" the pokemon perked up, "You're more than welcome over here!" Riolu slowly made his way over to the bed and hopped up, laying next to Ed. "There we go." he pet the pokemon's head.

"Riiuuu!" the pokemon happily chirped, his stomach letting out a little growl.

Ed chuckled, "Didn't you just eat?"

"Lu…"

Al giggled, "Looks like he takes after you brother."

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Ed passed a pokepuff from the bedside desk to Riolu, who happily munched it down.

"Nothing brother." Al rolled his eyes and laid his head down, let's get some sleep, it's a long walk to the station tomorrow.

"Yea." Ed admitted, "You're right Al, let's all get some rest." With Alphonse under his arm, Eevee at his feet, and Riolu on his stomach, they all drifted to sleep.

The next morning found Riolu joining them as they walked to the station, not wanting to say goodbye quite yet. Though it seemed like the walk back went a bit faster than the walk there.

Once at the station, Ed's ticket bought, he sat and began to wait for his train. "Well Riolu, I'm sad to say it but. I've gotta say goodbye." he pet the aura sensors behind his head as he sadly leaned into the touch.

"Ri…"

Al nuzzled him a bit, "Don't worry about it, we may come and visit someday!" his words however didn't seem to do anything but make Riolu cry. The pokemon ran over and hugged Ed's leg, sniffling and crying. Ed frowned and held the Riolu close. They stayed in the forlorn embrace until a gurgle from the pokemon's stomach interrupted them.

"Lu…"

Ed bit his lip and considered something for a moment, then nodded his head. "Riolu. The reason we became friends was because you wanted to be stronger." he placed his hand on the pokemon's shoulder, "You've already begun to grow stronger, but I know you can become the absolute strongest! So," he pulled out a pokepuff from a case in his bag, "Do you wanna come along with me on my journey? You'll never go hungry again." Ed smiled.

Riolu accepted the pokepuff and hugged his new trainer close. "RI!" Ed hugged him back with a happy laugh.

"I'm so glad you accepted." he reached into his bag and pulled out a pokeball he'd purchased before he began the mission. Who knew it would come in handy? Riolu hit the button with his paw and allowed himself to be pulled in. The ball only shook once before stars shot out with a click.

Ed grinned, "Come on out Riolu!" he tossed the ball in the air and Riolu popped out, landing in his trainer's arms.

"Alright everyone!" Ed smirked, "Let's get back to East City and tell colonel bastard about how bullshit his stone lead was!"

"Ri!"

"God brother, you sure are rubbing off on him already." Riolu didn't even know who Mustang was yet.

"Eh." Eevee agreed.

"What can I say? We have kindred spirits." Ed shrugged.

"Lu!"

"I can't wait to start training with you!"

* * *

 **Hey! Sorry this took a bit! I had trouble figuring out this part but I finally feel satisfied with it! Please be sure to leave me some feedback! They mean the world to me! Thanks for reading!**


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